


The Wolf Among Us

by Monopsys



Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: AU Cloud joins Soldier, Action/Adventure, Au Strings of Fate, F/F, Fate & Destiny, Fix-It, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memories, Memory Loss, Not Beta Read, Puppet Cloud Strife, Slow Burn, Smut, Zack Fair & Cloud Strife Friendship, Zack Fair Lives, alternative universe, and he tries to regain his memories of that time, but something is stopping him for doing that, yes because i love this trope
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:34:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 68,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24496528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monopsys/pseuds/Monopsys
Summary: Cloud knew being a merc was a dangerous job. It would cause more troubles to him and his team that he would bargain. Accepting that job was not only making him put his life into more danger than it deserved but also he knew the payment was pathetic. Yet in that job, he found something he didn't know he had lost.And then he started to remember.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Tifa Lockhart, Sephiroth/Cloud Strife, Zack Fair/Cloud Strife
Comments: 36
Kudos: 70





	1. The Start

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone. Even though I have played the ff7 game before I have joined the ff7 fandom too with the remake officially and boy let me tell you how fascinating it is.  
> So I decided to write a story with ur tragic boy and his team. It will be a what-if story with:  
> Zack didn't die  
> Cloud did make it on SOLDIER  
> The plate didn't fall on sector slum 7
> 
> Those are some of the changes I did in this story yet they will be more. I am not sure yet about the pairing but I am thinking of making it Zack/Cloud ship.
> 
> The story starts after Cloud, Tifa and Aerith reached Slum 7 only to see that the plate didn't fall so they were tricked by Don. Cloud resumes his merc business while Tifa and Aerith return to their daily routines.
> 
> The story follows the remake but it will include elements from Crisis Core and the orginal FF7.

It was perhaps one of the busiest days that she ever had in the bar. Tifa had served and was still serving so many customers that she had lost count. She was grateful but at the same time, that business was booming because of a misunderstanding. Or rather a scenario that didn't happen. 

After her adventure with Don, she was certain that the plate would have fallen and made her lose everything once again. Yet it was proven that what Don had said was all a lie. A lie to made them run, made them leave him alone, made him a window of opportunity to escape. They sure had fallen for the trap but it was all or nothing. If she ever found Don, she would show him what true pain is.

When she finally arrived in Sector Slum 7 after so much running she saw ...nothing. No helicopters, no gun sounds, nothing at all. She had pinched herself to be sure that what she heard, what she saw wasn't a lie.

  
_It wasn't._

  
On that cold night, she remembered only her cries of relief, Aerith's sweet voice giving her words of encouragement and hugging her and Cloud's smile. The aftermath was a blur of emotions and colors but she knew she had run at the bar finding all her friends or the family she had created. Her happy tears didn't stop and even though she knew she looked stupid, she didn't care.

  
The next thing Tifa remembered was her waking up the next morning on her bed. After she had finally get out of it, she had found Aerith on her sofa sleeping peacefully, like that sofa was her own. Tifa smiled at her. Even after everything they have been through and knowing her for such a limited time, she felt like she knew her a lifetime. She felt a friendship blooming between them and she didn't complain about it. After a while of watching Aerith talking in her sleep (gibberish most of it), she remembered that even all she had experienced yesterday she still had work to go to. So she changed her uniform with a more freezer one. But before she left she wrote a quick note telling Aerith that she would be down at the bar if she needed her. With that, she closed her door.

  
Her gaze turned towards Cloud's door. Was he awake? Was he alright? She could knock and find out but she turned against that thought. She didn't want to bother him now since all the things he had done for her. Maybe he had already left as he had said. She closed her eyes. She didn't want him to leave. She wanted to ask more questions and find the answers she wanted yet...maybe he was better off away from her. She didn't want to put him in more trouble.

  
Her thoughts were cut short when she saw Cloud talking to a man. The smile that had left her face had returned and even though her best efforts not to bother Cloud's conversation with that man, her mouth moved.

  
"Good morning _Cloud_."

  
Cloud turned towards her and his eyes softened and she was sure she saw a small smile making its way on his face but it was quickly replaced but his usual expression.

  
"Good morning Tifa." Was his response.

  
And with that, the days passed. Everyone had returned to their usual routines. Aerith had returned home and continued selling flowers even in their slum, Tifa in her bar and Avalanche continued making plans to reduced Shinra's power.

  
Cloud had even stayed making Tifa happier that she would have shown, continuing his merc work not only now on slum 7 but slum 5 and slum 6. His work had expanded making him busier yet it was keeping him here. _Near Tifa._

  
She would often help him in some of them and even Aerith or Avalanche would join. Cloud was content with whoever wanted to join him (or perhaps didn't have any other option) yet in most of the jobs, he was alone.

  
Even though Tifa could tag alone in all the missions he was getting, Cloud would make her attend her job or denied her to come along. Sometimes Tifa wondered if it was a SOLDIER thing or Cloud was still a stoic person that needed none. That was making her more determined than ever to spend more time with him trying to break him and finally have a decent conversation with him.

  
On what happened after he left, where was he, why he didn't write a letter. Yet when she was that close to finally talk to him, or he would change the subject or a job would suddenly come to the surface. She was so desperate and her luck didn't help her at all. Even her job was keeping her away from him now. Since the misinformation that the plate would fall on slum 7, a lot of people would come and see it for themselves if it did happen. Others would search for the oh mighty merc, bringing more and more people to Cloud's business and Tifa's.

  
That was a good thing, wasn't it? To finally have enough gil to spend it on something she wanted and having Cloud busy so he didn't leave her once again.

  
_Yet she felt something was **off.**_

  
"The long face today, I see." someone said bringing Tifa back to the present.

  
She turned towards the voice and found Aerith smiling at her. Her teasing voice was on point today so Tifa knew that the flowers she had brought here to sell where gone. Tifa smiled at her.

  
"It wasn't that long." Tifa said smiling while Aerith sat on one of the stools.

  
Tifa looked around for a moment and saw that many of her customers have left, calling it a day. She didn't complain since she could finally have a breather.

  
"I disagree. I found it outside the bar. Unacceptable." Aerith stated with a stoic face.

  
"It brings customers inside."

  
"A smile brings times two."

  
"Yours maybe. Mine brings times three."

  
"And mine makes them leave." Barret announced as he walked inside the bar.

  
Aerith turned to look at him and laughed.

  
"Because it so bright that it burns them to their core."

  
Barret smiled at her while he walked towards the arcade game and pushed the lever to go down to avalanche lair.

  
"Now we are talking!" He yelled and waved goodbye at them while the elevator took him down.

  
Both girls smiled knowing that the teasing had stopped with Barret's intervention.

  
"I see you sold all her flowers." Tifa said.

  
" _Ah~_ Not all!" Aerith smirked and pulled out a small flower from her basket and gave it to Tifa.

  
"How much?" Tifa said eyeing the flower.

  
It was the same flower that Cloud had given to her on his first day here.

  
"On the house!" Aerith cheered and clapped her hands.

  
"Let me buy you a drink at least." Tifa winking at her and while she was putting the flower in some water she didn't notice the blush that had formed on Aerith's face.

  
"Very well. Don't make me drunk!"

  
Tifa laughed at that "I wouldn't dare." She said and made a small drink for Aerith. After she had also made one for her, they stayed in silence for a while. Until Aerith broke it.

  
"You look tired."

  
"You think so?" Tifa asked.

  
"I am. For you to not notice that you are tired means not only that you are truly but something is bugging you." Aerith said and put her drink down.

  
Tifa's smile and small laugh that followed showed that she truly was tired. She looked down at her drink and watched it move around the cup.

  
"Well, perhaps the adrenaline I have felt has finally left my body. And to think today we didn't have so many customers as other days."

  
Aerith's hand then touched Tifa's shoulder and stayed there. With that Tifa's attention was switched to Aerith rather her drink. Aerith's smile was genuine and just looking at it she could feel a rush of relief and relaxation...or...

  
"Did you use cure?" Tifa asked with one eyebrow up.

  
Aerith's smile turned more sinister yet the kindness was still in it.

  
"Yes! I just wanted to be sure that you didn't exhaust yourself. If I didn't, that means I am not a good healer. And I am! Yet I didn't cure anything. You are fine." Aerith nodded.

  
Tifa looked at her.

  
"Stop using that long face."

  
"Your voice hides something from me." Tifa said.

  
Aerith shrugged her shoulders. "I don't. You are hiding something for me. Something must have happened or better your thoughts drove out your tiredness."

  
Tifa eyed her. "My... _thoughts?_ "

  
Aerith nodded. Tifa then examined once again her drink. Perhaps it was that thing she had noticed.

  
"I..."

  
"Is it Cloud?" Aerith asked without losing tempo making Tifa jumped.

  
After some silence, she nodded. Aerith pouted.

  
"I told him not to bother you. I will teach him a lesson."

  
"Ah, no Aerith! He didn't do anything to me."

  
"Explain then."

  
"I...well...there is so much I need to ask him yet I can't. Or is it because he doesn't want to talk to me or he is busy. That might drove me nuts. I want to ask him about the past."

  
"Past?"

  
Tifa nodded "Yes, the past. You know that we were friends in Nibelheim yet after he left for SOLDIER he hasn't told me what he had done. Or where was he? Was he ok? I want to ask yet I can't reach him to tell him that."

  
"I see. Yet that's it is not the case." Aerith replied and Tifa shook her head.

  
"No, it is that."

  
"No, it isn't. You have noticed something Tifa. Something I have noticed too. You are saying that because you saw what I saw and you think he is avoiding you. But he isn't."

  
Tifa put her hands in the counter more furiously that she intended.

  
"And how..."

  
"Did you ask him?"

  
Tifa stopped her sentence and she just nodded.

"Did you see then after the question you asked what he was doing?"

  
Tifa stopped and started to think.

  
"He was touching his head."

  
"Or better he was trying to stop the pain in his head."

  
Then Tifa understood.

  
"Now that you mention it...he is doing that every time I try to ask him about the past...or Sephiroth...ah... do you think?"

  
Aerith nodded. "I am not sure but even when I ask him too for his past he does that exact thing. Or sometimes he does it randomly. I am not sure but I believe that he must have memory loss. And he is trying to talk to us yet he can't."

  
"But he tells me sometimes about what he did on SOLDIER."

  
"But when your question was more specific?"

  
Tifa nodded again. "He acts like that...you might be right. He is trying to remember."

  
"That why he is clenching his head. He is...suffering. Yet I don't know what we can do to help. When we offer help, his own body or better mind rejects it and we are stuck back at square one."

  
"We can't do anything? Anything at all?"

  
Aerith closed her eyes. Now she looked tired too like Tifa. She let out a sigh.

  
"Wait. Maybe... Perhaps mako can help, yet he is the definition of mako. We could ask him again but that only gives us negative reactions that if we create so many of them, it might result in..."

  
Tifa nodded. In a coma that wouldn't help anyone and only put Cloud in danger. She let her head touch her hands that had rested in the counter. She felt...helpless like back then. When Sephiroth had...

  
She shook her head. Not now. Now she must focus on what she had. Her newfound family, her new friend, and Cloud. Cloud being her priority. She wanted to help him. Yet she didn't know how.

  
"Now that the topic had forced us that way..." _with no result._ "...where is Cloud?"

  
Now that was a question Tifa could answer.

  
" _Merc mission._ "

  
Aerith looked dumbfounded "But I haven't seen him since this morning. Is it that long?"

  
"It was one that was made specifically for Cloud."

  
"Ah, really. So he is not here. Do you know what it is about?"

  
"Well, Cloud told me that it was a found and retrieve mission so basically his kind of content. He didn't tell me more but he said that he would go on an abandoned science lab just near sector slum 6."

  
"I know that lab. It was still used by Shinra but they stopped using. Just...2 years ago. So I wonder what he is trying to retrieve from there."

  
"Cloud told me he would retrieve some documents for his client. He also told that he didn't like his client but the rewards for taking the job that simple was too good to pass. His words." Tifa smiled.

  
"Impossible! I want to hear him say that." Aerith said and smiled too.

  
"Still, he didn't like the look of his client."

  
"Look?"

  
"He had a red hood over him and his voice by what I understood was more like a plea do go there rather a demand."

  
"I see. Like they wanted Cloud to go there rather just to find the documents. They sound weird. I wonder but...I didn't see anyone with that description here. I was near the train station so I would have seen a person like that pass by. Yet don't they sound more like those..."

  
"Those hounded creatures in the air. Yes... Still, I...I don't doubt Cloud. For him to go the extra mile to do that job must be serious, right?"

  
Aerith didn't respond. It was her turn to look at her drink this time. She was thinking what Tifa was thinking. Something was off. They did, now Tifa had noticed, a full circle.They had started with Cloud's problem and they somehow ended again with Cloud.

  
Perhaps that person that Cloud had talked with was real. Yet, the appearance with a hood and a voice that sounded more like a plea than a demand to do something specific was off. She closed her eyes. No. Cloud must have suffered something that resulted in his memory loss but for him to imagine people was too much.

  
_**Right?** _

  
"That boy is truly driving me nuts!"

  
With that shout, Aerith laughed.

  
"Oh, I can imagine." With that, Tifa laughed and she continued.

  
"He is. Sometimes I hear him talking to his sleep even though a wall is separating us."

  
"Oh wow. Of course! Even on the night, he is bothering you. Can you hear him?"

  
"Sometimes. Sometimes I hear him mumble, others I hear him move around and others I hear him loud and clear. Like he is talking to someone. Still...those past nights I have heard a name."

  
"A name? What name?" Aerith said and glanced once again at her drink.

  
"Well, I am not sure if it is right but I heard Cloud saying... _Zack_."

  
_**And with that, the glass shattered.** _


	2. The Lab

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really liked how this chapter turned out until I corrected it and well...
> 
> I still like how it turned out but the suspense in some parts are cut so I hope you don't get confused.
> 
> Also I think I know which relationships we will have in this fic.
> 
> Untill then, good reading!

The night had reached once again the slums notifying Cloud that he had once again wasted his day on useless mercs missions. They have also double so it took much more time for Cloud to do them.

But today one of them was made just for him. A retrieve and take mission. But this time it wasn't a hostage or victim that he needed to save but some documents. When that person had approached him so he could give him that mission, Cloud was half ready to pull out his sword. Yet when the male started talking, his hand didn't leave his sword.

His voice...was familiar yet something was also off. Cloud swore in his life that he knew this voice. It was more confident, more dominant. Yet now that voice had lost its tempo making it closer to a whisper, to a plea. That's why his hand was still in his sword and he didn't take it out. He knew that person held a power higher than him yet now he was a mere shadow of that.

That man wore a red hood over his face making it unclear to understand who it was. The coat he was wearing was also red and his height was reduced since he was stooping. He had started normally with a _'you are the merc, right?_ ' in which Cloud nodded yet didn't talk. His hand rested on his buster sword. That was something that also caught the attention of that man.

"Having your hand in your buster sword means that I am someone dangerous. I assure you merc I am not. Not like I used to be..."

" _Your business_." Cloud just stated eyeing once again that man.

"Oh right, always-on business as a merc should be. So, as you can see I am defenseless, a mere old man walking around. Yet years ago I was someone with great power, someone unique. But I was overshadowed by him. My old friend, my colleague."

"Don't care."

"Of course, sorry I was reliving my past which I shouldn't have. Never mind, I was in a sort...a scientist and had an experiment that I have dedicated my whole life to it. Yet my health took it away from me and yet not that far. My experiment was given to him as always and I couldn't do anything. Still, his health also failed him thus my experiment was ended and lost with him. But I know where it was still going before they closed the lab."

" **They?** " Cloud asked.

The man laughed. "The people that destroyed us both me and you. Shinra. Those fucking people. My health was got worse because of them."

"Don't put me in your words, old man." Cloud hissed at him but the man didn't move at all.

He simply _laughed._

"What my boy, you were there too. I remember you loud and clear."

With that Cloud finally pulled his sword and pointed it at him.

"That's why you knew the name of the sword."

That made the man lightly laugh even though there was a sword pointing at him.

"You caught that, bravo. I thought you didn't listen to me yet for you to hear that means I am worth your time, knowing you Cloud."

This time the sword made its way towards that man's neck staying in there as a warning.

"I always listen."

"That's true. Yet you only hear, you don't understand, don't you? So for once listen to me. I won't bite so let your sword down."

Cloud stayed there for a while trying to read that man's voice and movement. Even though his voice had turned once again in that voice Cloud knew, his body lacked that movement. So bark no bite. So, he put his sword on his back and crossed his hands on his chest, ready to listen.

"I have not all day." He simply said like nothing had happened.

The man moved his hand up and down. When he opened his mouth, his voice had returned to a plea.

"Of course, of course, I am sorry. Anyway, as I said I know the lab that my experiment was still going. It is abandoned yet dangerous. So, for you Cloud not only it is a walk in the park but also a job you have been waiting for to do as a true SOLDIER."

"What is it for me?"

"Ah yes. This material will be yours..."

"Already have it." Cloud said eyeing the gravity material.

By the looks of it, it was mastered. A good material yet he had it so why waste his time on something he knew he had and could also master. Yet that job was something he wanted to do. Or needed. Some action. Yet he wouldn't do it for free.

The man laughed again.

"I am not holding a gravity material."

"You ar..." Cloud started saying when he saw the same material change color making it a fire material.

"See? This material is unique."

"Your lies are **unique**."

With that, the man smiled lightly.

"Your eyes are _different._ "

That caught Cloud off guard for a second. What was that supposed to mean?

"When you were there with me, your eyes were still your original, not fused with mako. So the mako must have destroyed your eyesight on what is important."

That made Cloud chuckle. "Is that so old man? Then, my assist is not needed anymore."

Then Cloud started walking when the man ran and without Cloud noticing he put the material he was holding on Cloud's hands. Cloud was ready to punch him when suddenly the white noise stopped him and green particles had appeared on his eyesight. He clutched his head and then saw.

_He was walking on a catwalk looking down at the lab he was instructed to watch. The scientists ran around putting mako on the tubes that ran from the floor to the wall. Large tubes were also filled with liquid mako. That was the discovery they needed. Now they could use mako again and again without losing its power and without wasting the mako of this planet. Cloud smiled at the tubes. That would help the planet regrow and heal and they as humans would also have the energy they needed._

_He walked down and waved at some of the scientists who knew him by name. Just seeing the tubes ran the liquid mako put a smile on his face. The larger tubes on the wall were lighting the room with green light. They looked so beautiful and memorizing. He wanted to touch it but the scientists had said that touching it would make his cells grow faster than a human being. Dangerous to touch, beautiful to see. Only SOLDIERS could touch it without worrying because that liquid mako actually helped stop the acceleration of their cells. For others though, it would result in madness and even violent behavior._

_SOLDIERS being expose to mako was normal to them since it gave them more power and speed than mere humans, making them unique. Yet it was for a price. Being injected with mako made their cells grow and wither faster making the average age for them about half of a human being. So this mako would benefit everyone._

_Cloud watched the mako run around inside the tube. His gaze turned towards the smaller tubes which lighted the room orange. As far he knew that tube contained a medicine but was still on development so he didn't know what it cured. Still for it to be in so many tubes meant that it had an effect. He turned his head and watched the circle area behind the large tubes. In the middle of it, there was a small tube. That thing was their VR area. Yet it wasn't closed to give the illusion of a real VR experience but it was for showing 3d plans and grafts for the research of the lab. Cloud was so focused on the circle area that he didn't hear someone getting close to him until a hand was on his shoulder._

With that Cloud pulled out the hand that was in his shoulder and saw the man with the red hood smiling at him.

"Did you understand now?"

Cloud looked at him and after a while of understanding where he was, he looked down on his hand. The material had disappeared.

"A... _memory material?_ "

The man smirked again.

"Exactly. As I said it is a unique one. And only Ancients can make them. Yet I have my ways. But it was the last one I could make. So you are lucky I could still make one."

"You knew I wouldn't accept the job so you made one?" Cloud asked and stood straight.

"Well, you are Cloud. Always on alert."

"How do you know me? I don't remember you."

The man's smirk turned more sinister.

"And that is what you are searching for? Memories. And I am searching for my experiment. We can help each other out in this one. Help me recover my experiment and I assure you that when you are there not only you will remember your past but watch it move."

And with that Cloud had accepted the job. With the payment being nothing but mere expectations that he would find what he is searching for. What he was searching for was the project G. Cloud had heard that project before. Yet he...he couldn't remember where. His frustration was getting stronger and stronger by the minute as he walked his way through the slums 5 to go to the abandoned lab.

He looked up to see the stars making their appearance. Before he could do this merc mission he needed to finish others he had accepted before that one. That's why he had wasted an entire day for nothing. _He sighed_. They were some unique missions so he didn't complain much. Still, this mission was getting to _his nerves_.

Not only he could be hurt badly since he knew that monsters where attracted by labs because there was a large amount of mako in them but also the payment he would get was pathetic. That man said that he would give him extra material for his trouble if he went. Cloud kicked a box that was in front of him.

Only a single material he would get from that job. One! And the man knew that Cloud wouldn't deny taking that job because he was intrigued by this one. It was something he used to do so doing it was... _reassuring._

The memory he saw also had made him accepted the job without another word. That man knew what he was doing. As he said he knew Cloud and Cloud was sure that he knew him too.

That was what made Cloud frustrated. The man could read him like an open book and Cloud didn't. And the man didn't even tell him who he was meaning that he was playing with Cloud. _That was unfair._

As he sliced open some monsters that got in his way, he saw the lab at the distance. Finally. Cloud ran towards it wanting to call it a day and return back at the Seventh Heaven. He might catch Aerith if he hurried. He pouted. He had lied to both Tifa and Aerith. Well, he had said the truth about the job yet not for the payment.

Cloud shook his head as he climbed a ladder that was making it's way up the roof. He didn't want the girls to know what the man had given him or would give him after all this. Such a pathetic payment. He had a new-found reputation to hold and if everyone found out with what he was being paid then everyone would jump the wagon and played him the same. Cloud bit his lips as he walked on top of the roof. _He was a joke._ ** _Joke for a SOLDIER._**

Finally, after some time searching the roof, he found a small hole. He lightly hit it with his foot to widen it and by his surprise, it led to another stair. Ah yes, that he remembered.

That lab had an emergency ladder leading up the roof so an opening was made to help whoever was trying to leave it. For what reason it had that huge opening for everyone to enter was something that Cloud didn't know. He silently climbed it down and was greeted by a door. That wasn't a problem for his sword so after he sliced it open he walked inside it.

This room was lighted strangely enough putting Cloud on high alert. So the lab wasn't that abandoned as he thought it would. There could be monsters in it or thugs he had encountered many times on his trips.

The room was filled with desks, each one with a huge amount of papers. The walls were filled with large bookcases so it was a research room. He walked among the desks and watched each one of them. Some had words, other numbers, other drawings. One caught the attention as it had only three papers on it. Two of them were bland and the third had a huge word on it.

**Working.**

Cloud didn't pay any attention to them so he found another door and went through it. This time he was greeted with computers and large machines that had been worn by time and collected dusk. Nothing on here. He needed to go to the room that the memory material showed. That was where the project G was. So he searched.

Only two rooms that he went through had the lights on and both of them were exactly the same. Research rooms. But why the lights were on? And only to those two?

In the second research room, there was also another desk with three papers and only one had a word on it.

**Computer.**

As Cloud searched each and single one of the other rooms he didn't find the room that he needed to go. So it was hidden. But where. Then it clicked. The papers on each of the research rooms gave a message. Working computer. So one of the computers was still working.

He made his way in the computer room and eyed each and single one of them. None open. He put his hand on his hips and tried to find the missing piece he needed. Suddenly something moved in his eyesight making Cloud jerk and pulled out his sword. He stepped back only to find that thing that made him scared was a spider that had made a web on one of the computers.

Cloud sighed again more violently to hide his embarrassment. He was lucky that he was alone or else that behavior would result in something more embarrassing. Like jokes on him. He stared at the spider which continued doing its job.

**_..._ **

**_Wait._** Spider. Dust. Of course, he is stupid. For the lights to be on meant that someone was coming in the lab. So the computer they used would not have dust on it. With that, he searched and finally found one that didn't have as much dust as the other ones. He tried to boot it yet nothing happened. So, he needed to do something else with it.

Then green particles flew in his vision resulting in another strong vision. Cloud clutched his head in pain. After a while, he breathed freely. He put his hand on the screen and it suddenly lightened up. A touchscreen. With that something clicked and opened. Cloud heard if carefully and headed towards the sound. The ladder in which he had broken in, had open a hutch that led down. So, he went down.

Now this time, as he turned to look in the area, he knew this place. He was currently standing on the same catwalk he walked in his memory. He followed it and finally, he reached the room with the green tubes. They still glowed and the liquid inside was still moving. The orange ones where still there yet there were less than he remembered. So the medicine was probably working. Yet the liquid mako was not reduced as he saw. Only one was darker and wasn't transparent like the other ones. So maybe the liquid mako was turning bad after all. He walked towards the one that had supposedly turned bad.

It was really hard to see through it and the liquid didn't move at all. It was like time had stopped in it. As you went towards the middle, the liquid turned greener and greener until in the middle turned black. So, the mako was truly turning bad. Yet why the other tubes were still as he remembered and this one didn't. As Cloud analyzed the tube, his gaze was turned towards the circle area. So it still existed. That VR was still there.

Cloud ignored the tube (even though something drove him to it) and stepped inside the circle area. He pushed the tube and it immediately came to life emitting blue lights around the circle. Reading its surroundings. Cloud watched the lights move around until they stayed on him. Then they turned into a screen and on it, some words had appeared.

"Name." It stated.

"...Cloud." He said after some time of hesitation.

The machine wrote the answer at the screen and then started to analyze it. After a while, the screen disappeared and the blue laser lights once again move around the circle area while the tube started talking with a female voice.

"Name found. Welcome back, Mr. Strife."

Cloud looked at it. So, as the man said and as he remembered, he had been here. After all the VR knew his full name. So he could ask anything he wanted.  
"Project G."

With that, the lights started doing circles until finally, they stopped on something outside the circle area. Cloud moved towards the spot the lights had rested and to his surprise, the VR had found the documents that Cloud was looking for. So the VR could read its surroundings outside of its area. As he was taking them, the machine spoke.

"Project G is still here Mr. Strife. The documents Project J, Project Z, Project C, Project T are missing."

"Missing?" He asked without knowing and the machine spoke again.

"Affirmative. They were taken and Project S was burned."

"By whom?"

The machine then put out its lights. Cloud now had returned to the circle area after he had secured the documents and kneeled next to the machine so he could reopen it. But then the lights opened again and the VR spoke.

"Not available information for the stolen documents. The one who burned Project S was ...phi...th."

The VR started to stutter and the lights started flickering yet the name was loud and clear to Cloud's ears.

"Sephiroth! It can't be, he is dead!"

"Negat...the cameras detect ...phi...th two day...ago."

"Impossible! He is dead. I saw him die. I killed him!"

Cloud screamed at the machine when green particles entered once again in his eyesight and the white noise rang in his ears. He held his head with both hands and tried to lower the pain. Yet it was getting louder and louder. He had kneeled he had found out when he put one of his hand on the ground trying to steady himself while the other one was in his head. Then someone took his hand and the pain was sustained.

Cloud looked towards then one holding his hand and he jumped back away from it. Even though he had moved back, his hand was still captured. The grasp was harsh and painful yet that was what showed Cloud that what he was living was the reality. Sephiroth was holding his hand and his smirk hadn't changed since the last time he had seen him. He looked at Cloud.

"Having trouble?" He asked so normally like he was talking to a friend rather than the one that had tried to kill.

Cloud once again tried to take back his arm with no such luck. So with his other one, he pulled his sword. But before the sword touched Sephiroth, it touched Sephiroth's sword, the Masamune. They were locked and only sparks showed that they weren't stopped in time. Sephiroth moved closer to the swords and analyzed Cloud from head to toe.

"It seems that you have." He said and now his smirk grew three times big. "Should I help?"

With that Cloud felt electricity ran through his body making him lose his grasp on buster sword making him stumble back. Sephiroth had used a thunder material and by the jolt, it was probably bolt 2. Cloud gasped from the pain and didn't react as he wanted to when Sephiroth still holding Cloud's hand, moved him and threw him on one of the walls. Cloud hit his head on impact but reacted quickly and parried Sephiroth's attack. He found his buster sword and held it between him and Sephiroth.

Cloud shook his head still affected by the electricity but held his place. Sephiroth just laughed at him.

"I might have used the wrong analogy. You are stronger than I believed. Not as much stronger as you used to be but slowly we are getting there."

" _Fuck off._ " Cloud yelled and moved towards him.

Sephiroth just parried the attack and held in place both the swords and pouted.

"No. That was not what I was expecting from you, Cloud. I needed something else."

Then with a quick movement, he moved buster sword towards Cloud, making him lose his footsteps and without noticing Cloud was once again in the wall. This time he was pushed by Sephiroth while the swords between then made sparks for domination. Sephiroth put his other hand next to Cloud's head and closed the gap that was created between them from the swords. Cloud tried to move or use more strength to moved back Sephiroth but nothing worked. He knew the man was heavier than him and that was what gave him the advantage in this duel.

"Even though watching you try to work your way out of my grasp is entertaining, I seek more. I seek the power I have seen. I seek the warrior I knew. Yet I see nothing, a mere shadow, a mere mimic. I wouldn't mind in any other case but you, Cloud..."

Sephiroth purred and the hand he had on the wall moved towards Cloud's cheek stroking it. Cloud moved away from the contact yet the hand still find its way on his cheek. The swords were still on place, and even though Cloud didn't want to admit it, he was struggling. Sephiroth gave more force each second in the contact, making Cloud lose his grip on it, and also the swords were getting closer and closer to him. If Cloud moved his sword, he was sure that Masamune would strike his heart.

His thoughts were stopped when Sephiroth's hand stopped brushing Cloud's cheek and stayed there. With that, the rush of pain he felt before returned and Cloud closed his eyes to subdued it but he held his sword in place. But every second that passed, more and more difficult was for him to focus on his sword. The pain was getting more and more intense that Cloud grimaced and his head without his intention fell back and stayed at the wall.

He must have blacked out because when he returned to his surroundings, he found out that both of his hands were pinned above his head trapped by Sephiroth's hand and now the other one was resting next to Cloud's head. The buster sword was at his legs but far away from him to reach it. Cloud stared and hissed at Sephiroth who just looked at him emotionless and his smirk had disappeared.

"By now you would surely found out how to destroy me. Yet the eyes I see hold no light, no passion. Only worthlessness. I need what I had seen then and now I will surely lose it if I continue letting you do this merch missions. So, Cloud..." Sephiroth whispered at Cloud's ears sending chills down his spine. "...would you let me have you my way?"

Cloud response was a hiss and before he could answer, he was punched at the face. Cloud split out the blood and lifted his head looking at Sephiroth. He was now smirking at him.

"Steadily but efficiently."

And with that, Sephiroth moved away and pulled Cloud by the arms and threw him at the VR. There Cloud rested for a while before he stood up but then suddenly his body didn't respond to him. He was frozen in place. Sephiroth just walked towards him and circled him eyeing him. Cloud couldn't move, his body didn't respond to his demands. Sephiroth put his hand under Cloud's cheek and lifted it so Cloud could see him eye to eye. Cloud wanted to lash at him, hit him, or just talked but nothing worked. He was controlled he understood after a while. His eyes burned yet he wouldn't cry in front of Sephiroth. After a while, his eyes felt stranger to him and his eyesight started to blur. They felt more...like...Sephiroth's eyes.

"Yes, what a good boy, what a good puppet...perhaps this is the best option. Yet not what I am after."

Sephiroth took his hand away from Cloud's cheek and moved behind him. His hands rested at Cloud's shoulders and he could feel Sephiroth's breath on his cheek.

"...it might work." He whispered near Cloud's ears sending once again chills down Cloud's spine.

"Vr. Open level 99 threat."

"Affirmative." The VR said.

Sephiroth now had moved in front of Cloud and smiled at him. He put once again his hand under Cloud's cheek and stroked it while wiping out the tear that had escaped. He smirked when he saw that Cloud's eyes had now become like his own making Cloud a true puppet.

"Listen to me Cloud. I have opened a simulation for you to play. When the VR says start, you will return to normal and forget our little reunion. I don't want to spoil your fun trying to seek your memories. Either way, they will come soon enough. And until then I will wait patiently for our reunion."

And with that Sephiroth carelessly brushed Cloud's hair as his hand moved away from him and walked outside the room.

Then that word filled the room.

**_"Start."_ **


	3. The Past

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This time I really like how it turned out! I am more hapy to say that it is better than I imagined it to be!!!!
> 
> Have fun!

Cloud blinked. Why was he looking at the wall? He blinked once again. His eyes were burning up. Tears escaped his eyes as he was scratching the eyelids. He also felt his body numb like he was electrocuted by something. _Did he blackout?_ He remembered the VR stuttering and then he was watching the wall with completely different feelings. He felt tired for some reason. Maybe the VR had indeed electrocuted him and as he stood up he faced the wall.

Cloud also had heard the VR talked. It said 'start'. What would have started? He turned to face once again the VR and saw that the blue lasers were moving, scanning the room. He also did so. And found nothing.

"VR what are you doing?" He asked watching the lights moving around him.

"Level threat 99 is activated."

"Level what..." He started but something moved near him.

Cloud turned and pulled his sword out ready to attack whoever was with him. Or he could just _flee_. Either way, he got what he wanted. At least for the hooded man. But what that man had promised was not here. Either way, he needed to focus. He could feel something moving around. And then it came. A smooth flick of a sword came down right in his back. But Cloud had heard it before it hit him and he parried it putting his sword behind his back. He jumped away from where the other sword had come down and looked towards that direction.

Cloud saw a man. _A SOLDIER._ And by the uniform, he was for sure a 1st class because it was customized and only 1st class could do so. He was wearing a gray turtleneck without sleeves. The classic black trousers all SOLDIERS wore and on it, there was a belt with a lot of material. Cloud could recognize some of them and he was sure that all of them were mastered. He wore black gloves so he could hold his sword with ease and in his right arm he had a black sleeve that started from his elbow towards the armpit. It had a different texture than the rest of the uniform and by looking at it Cloud could see a zip. There was also a belt around his chest identical to the one that Cloud was now wearing. 

But the thing that made Cloud astonished was the mask that the person wore. It was like the usual mask that the other classes wore but the one that the person was wearing was in the shape of a wolf. A black wolf. In front of his face, there were the closed eyes of a wolf. On top of his head, there were two wolf's ears that were moving. There were up but when Cloud did the parry they moved back like they were surprised. 

Cloud blinked once again at the person and cursed under his breath. He...he knew that person. He was Wolf. The second on command of 1st class SOLDIERS after Sephiroth. He was one of the best SOLDIERS that had mastered the art of mako. How less he could consume and make the attacks more devastating than before. _He was also a great fighter._

**_Better than Cloud._ **

Wolf had defeated a dragon only with the sword he carried making him one of the fearsome SOLDIERS. If he could handle a dragon with his bare sword then Cloud knew he was screwed. But the thing was that Wolf had disappeared. Long before Cloud had entered Nibelheim 5 years ago. So why was he standing in front of him? **_Unless..._ **

Cloud felt pain in his head yet his eyes didn't leave Wolf. Of course. Level threat 99 was a VR experience with Wolf. The highest level one that anyone could enter yet it was unbeatable. Why? Because Wolf was in it. _And Wolf had never lost a fight._

**_Not even to Sephiroth._ **

Cloud cursed again because the only way to close the threat 99 was by defeating Wolf or closing the VR. Wolf smiled at him. A warm smile, a friendly one. Wolf even though was a fearsome SOLDIER he was the kindest person in the world. Even Turks liked him and they fought alongside him. 

Although Cloud had relaxed by that smile, he immediately jumped and repelled the attack that Wolf had launched at him. Braver. That was one attack that Cloud had learned from him and used so many times. As he was evading it, he shouted at the VR.

"VR terminate level threat 99."

As Cloud was ready to put his sword in his back, the machine spoke.

"Cannot terminate level threat 99."

Cloud listened to those words and cursed once again as another attack this time was repelled by his sword. 

" _Why not?_ Close the simulation!"

"It was activated by a higher on command and cannot be determined by a low on command."

"What? Who activated it?"

"The one who activated it was..." And with that, the VR voice started to stutter again until it disappeared.

Was the VR broken? It appeared to be so but the simulation was still going and the lights were still scanning its surroundings on the circle area. Wolf smiled at him again clearly impressed by the resistance yet Cloud could feel disappointment cause he was parrying than attacking. And why would he stop? Cloud knew he was toasted. He could fight but Wolf was stronger and faster than him. He wasn't even using his full strength.

Cloud remembered how many times he had tried this level and how many times he left the simulation with shame and blood all over him. This simulation was designed to hurt, to feel real pain, and also it was showing Wolf's true power. Cloud bit his lips as Wolf's sword finally penetrated his parrying. It moved and before Cloud sensed it, it cut a hole on his shirt on the left side and moved him at the wall. The only thing Cloud could do was to get ready for the impact. 

Cloud hit his head at the wall but recovered quickly. He moved to the right and let Wolf's sword cut his turtleneck. He put his hand on the cut that had appeared and cured it before more blood got out. He didn't notice Wolf had moved behind before it was too late. He felt Wolf's elbow connecting with his face pushing him down and once again he hit his head. He felt blood on his mouth as he had probably bitten the insides of his mouth on the impact. When Cloud split out the blood, Wolf had moved back and watched him.

Cloud had kneeled and was ready to attack yet Wolf didn't move. He had given space and time for Cloud to heal. Cloud smiled despite feeling a headache forming on in his head. He was acting like the real Wolf. He stopped the battle when he felt that the battle was one-sided. Cloud stood up and despite the pain, he didn't heal himself. It was unfair to heal. _This was a duel._

Wolf smiled again and held his sword up and moved it towards his head. Cloud watched the sword as Wolf was giving his swore as a SOLDIER to his sword. The Twin Stinger. It had several materials on it and in the middle, there was a gold material. As far he knew that material was the only one in the world and did absolutely nothing. Yet Wolf held it with pride. It was the trademark of Wolf as well as the sword. Cloud knew that all the materials that he saw were fake since the inside of them didn't move as the real ones did. So watching the gold material not moving was unreal to him. And showed him that the Wolf in front of him was just a simulation and not the real person. But by the Odin, he would like to meet him someday if he was still alive.

Still, how would Cloud recognize him? Wolf's identity was never revealed and only the gold material would show the real one apart since it was the only one in the world. Yet no sign of him was ever found after his disappearance or his gold material or his sword. Or even the same battle style was found, making it harder and harder to believe that Wolf was still alive. Yet many said that he was.

Cloud was so focused on his thoughts that he didn't see the kick until it was too late. Wolf's foot hit Cloud on the chest throwing him back near the VR tube. If he was more to the right, he would have been impaled by it. Cloud slid to the left trying to stand up yet Wolf was by his side and once again kicked him. Cloud flew backwards hitting the wall. He closed his eyes trying to subdue the pain. It was liked he remembered. **_Impossible._ **

No room to breathe. However, he would try anything to change the odds. He put his energy on his material and fired bolt 2 towards Wolf. Wolf didn't move from his place and simply put his sword up. The attack found it's way to his sword and...it was absorbed into it. _Oh no._ **_He had forgotten!_ ** Wolf was the only person he knew that absorbed mako and used it as its element or changed it. And what Cloud did, was to give Wolf enough mako that he would use against him. Wolf smirked at him and the sword was lighted blue.

He would use the same attack against Cloud. So Cloud put as much strength to his MBarrier and cast it around him. Wolf did a swing with his sword and hit it on the ground creating lines of electricity that moved towards Cloud. As Wolf lifted his sword, the electricity got more intense and moved faster. With that Cloud felt the electricity run through him even if the MBarrier was still up.

Cloud felt Wolf moved and he counterattacked his swings. Yet after some time, Wolf's sword went under of Cloud's and with a fast motion, it was lifted from Cloud's hands and was thrown backwards. It landed on the tube with the mako that had turned bad. _Making it a victory for Wolf._

Wolf's sword went down Cloud's chin and he lifted it. Cloud looked at Wolf defeated. He wasn't mad but disappointed. He had lost faster than his personal record. Wolf after a while put his sword on his back and crossed his arms in front of his chest. He nodded and smiled at Cloud.

Cloud smiled despite his loss and nodded back at Wolf. With that Wolf disappeared and only the blue lights moved around the room. Cloud looked at the VR tube. Perhaps that wasn't that bad. He closed his eyes and put his hands on his hips sighing. Sure he had lost yet that battle was something he yearned for. Maybe that was also the thing that would spark his memories as the hooded man had said. He eyed the tube.

Maybe he could visit sometimes and exercise here. Maybe he could learn new tricks with it. Maybe, maybe. His thoughts were cut short when the tube spoke.

"It's fair. It's fair." It repeated.

"Yeah, I know it was." He said hoping his answer would silence the machine yet it continued repeating that words.

Cloud started to get pissed off and moved towards the tube to closed it when he noticed the lasers not moving. They had landed somewhere and had stayed on a specific location. _Behind him._ He slowly turned to see where they were when he heard a sound like a sword moving down. He jumped forward and fully turned back to see the attacker. He was ready to use his materials to stun the attacker and run to his sword when he noticed that his sword was wielded by them. He showed his teeth, clearly furious seeing his sword being wielded by someone else. He ran towards them, ready to take back his sword when...

_Pain._

**His head...**

_He felt sick._ As he tried to silence the voices in his head, the sword moved and hit him dead end to the head, cutting him. He hissed at the pain and tried to clear his vision. The cut was over his eyebrow but it wasn't that deep. Still, blood ran out making it impossible to see. Cloud fleed back to the wall trying to clear the blood that had got out and still trying to focus on the situation in front of him. _Yet he couldn't._

That person using his sword was...familiar. Cloud knew that person. _He knew him._ Yet why was it so hard to remember him.

Another blow hit him this time at the shoulder and Cloud hissed again at the pain. That man then used his sword as a shield and moved him back at the wall trapping him. With that Cloud couldn't escape and could only see the man. The man had moved his face closer to him and Cloud focused in his eyes. His eyes were green fused with mako. He was a SOLDIER. Yet the pupil of his eyes was also lightly colored green. He was poisoned. _Mako poisoned_. 

The man's face was emotionless and his mouth was a straight line. _That's wrong!_ He was always smiling. **_Why?_ **

_Why Cloud couldn't remember him?_

The man moved again pushing Cloud. Cloud finally gasped showing his weakness. _A mistake..._

**_Or was it?_ **

When he gasped, the man's face softened. That gave Cloud an opening and with all his power he pushed him away. That made him move a little but it was enough for Cloud to escape. However, the man recovered quickly and sliced the air. That slice connected with ground trapping the sword. With that Cloud kicked him in the face and the man was thrown back by he didn't fall. In fact, he let the kick connect with his face because then he grasped Cloud's leg lifting him up and throwing him. Cloud landed near the tubes with the mako inside. 

As he stood up, he noticed that he was soaked with something. He looked down where he landed and saw a large puddle of mako. There were also a lot of other mako puddles that lead towards...an empty mako tube. The one that his sword had landed on. The tube was smashed and the mako had leaked out.

Then a punch connected with his face driving him out of his thoughts and he punched back. But the man had caught his hand. Cloud punched once again with his other only for that too to be caught. He hissed at the man not fully facing him and the man remained emotionless. Cloud then noticed his hand being soaked.

_No..._

**It can't be!**

Cloud stared at the man's hands and then towards his legs. There now where he stood, mako was dripping down. Cloud shook his head. _No!_ _They couldn't have!_ Shinra couldn't have done this!

The man was inside the tube and he was there for how long, forgotten. That's why it was black in the middle. Because he was in it, making it darker. Cloud shook his head again and the man simply watched him. 

**No!** _Shinra couldn't have done this!_

**_ Why not?  _ ** Cloud stopped.

_They have done this before and they will do this again!_

The voices started to get louder.

_They never cared about us._

_They have done worse._

_They have experimented with us before._

_They are doing this now._

Cloud closed his eyes trying to silence the voices yet they got even louder.

_Shinra had lied to us._

_Shinra has made us weak._

_Shinra tried to kill us._

_Why don't you see Cloud?_

_Cloud_

**_C_** _loud_

**_CL_** _oud._

**_CLOUD_ **

"Stop" He screamed and put his hands on the side of his head.

When the man had let his hands, was unknown to him.

**ClO** ud 

Clou **D**

~~Clo~~ **U** d

~~Cl~~ ~~**ou** ~~ ~~d~~ s **ee**...

_Cl_ **ou** d d **o** n't y **ou** re **m** e _ **m** ber? _

Cloud could feel his face being soaked by his tears and his blood.

"No..." He finally whispered.

**_ Then  _ **

**_ Remember.  _ **

Cloud then opened his eyes and watched as his life played in front of him.

_His life in the village, being ignored, not inside any group. Tifa, Tifa being in a coma, his promise at the water tower. Him leaving, not making to SOLDIER, being a troop, not fitted once again, finally making a friend, making another friend, having responsibilities, Sephiroth. Going on a mission in Nibelheim, Tifa, Sephiroth going crazy, the fire, the anger, the fury  . _

_The death of Sephiroth, and....the experiments on him, him staying on the tube being called a failed experiment and having a mako poisoning, being on a coma. Escaping it and then the trip and finally reaching Midgar. But there was a fight and then the death_ **_of_ ** _..._

**_Of..._ **

" **_Zack!_ **" Cloud said and turned his gaze to the man in front of him.

Zack's eyes lighted for a second and moments later his face finally showed emotion. _Anger._ Hs launched towards Cloud but Cloud dodged it. 

_Zack was in front of him!_ **_Zack was alive!_ ** **_ Zack had survived!  _ **

Cloud smiled at him yet Zack only got angrier. Cloud was the one this time that held his hands and with a fast movement, backed Zack to the wall.

"Zack! It's me Cloud!"

Zack's eyes softened. He was understanding him. Yet the mako poisoning was not letting him act accordingly. Cloud needed to do something. _He needed to save him!_

"I will not let you fall, Zack! I will not lose you again!" Cloud said.

But Zack only got angrier! He kicked and tried to move away from the wall. And he managed to do so. Cloud felt once again lighting striking him, making it easier for Zack to move him away. As he was recovering he noticed that Zack had recovered the buster sword while Cloud was trying to put his mind on order. That's why he was hurt by lightning. Cloud split the blood that had formed once again in his mouth and tried to wipe the still running blood from his eye.

He needed to find something. Something to ease the poisoning. _But what?_ It appeared that Zack was acting the opposite of how Cloud did. He was reacting to words negatively and by the mention of his name. _So..._

"I know we started bad but everything will be ok. I am a friend." He stated and showed that he was unarmed.

Zack this time didn't move and simply listened to Cloud. _Progress_. 

"As I said, I am Cloud." 

That drove a strong reaction from Zack and his anger disappeared. He still held the sword in front of him ready to attack but his emotionless face had returned. Cloud smiled despite himself at Zack. Now he knew how Zack felt when Cloud did something on his mako poisoning.

"You remember me. I am your friend. We were together for a long time and will be. I will find a way as you have done for me. Now..."

But then the blue lasers of the tube landed on Zack and it started to repeat.

" _It is Fair. It is Fair._ "

Cloud eyes widened. That's why the VR was repeating those words. It had read Zack and was programmed probably to announced that Zack had escaped. And that was what Cloud didn't need now. With the mention of his name, Zack showed his teeth and attacked Cloud. Cloud did see the sword and dodged but didn't see the punch that was followed by it. He was hit with such power that he was thrown back inside the room with all the mako tubes.

Cloud didn't recover quickly and in result, Zack moved above him and started to choke him. Cloud tried to unclench the hands with no results. He saw Zack's eyes turning greener in the pupils by the minute making him sick. If he didn't do something then the mako would enter his mind and... _he would lose Zack for sure!_

His vision started to blackout. _No!_ Zack needed him. _Not now!_ He turned his head around trying to find something. Something to hit Zack with. And finally, he saw them. The smaller orange tubes with the medicine. He tried to reach them yet he was far away. 

His vision turned more black and now he could feel more blood running from his scar over his eyebrow. _Wait._ **The scar.** He had gasped in pain making Zack stop his motion before. But now he was in a chokehold. Would he manage to?

_Maybe..._

So he tried it. He gasped with as much air he had left to breathe. Zack, to his surprise, not only stopped his motions but pulled out his hands from his neck letting Cloud breathe. Cloud didn't think at all and just grabbed one of the small tubes and with as much force he could master, smashed it on Zack's head. It hit him dead on and threw him over by Cloud's side. Cloud let himself breathe and after a while, he lifted himself and crouched near Zack.

Zack had closed his eyes and lay there unmoving. By the side of his head, Cloud saw blood running down but also the orange medicine had indeed touched him. In his mouth, there was also a line of blood running down. But he didn't move. Cloud started to worry. Did he hit stronger than needed? Cloud put his hand on Zack's neck trying to find a heartbeat. He started to panic.

"Z...Zack..." He whispered.

Cloud couldn't find anything. His hands were shaking now by fear than the adrenaline he felt before. _No! He couldn't!_

"Zack! Don't die on me bastard! Not now! Not now that I have found you!" He shouted to no one and shook lightly Zack.

Zack didn't move. Now Cloud could feel tears running down. He couldn't think straight. He shook once again Zack more violently. _Nothing_.

" **_ZACK!_ ** No! Please don't die. Zack!" Cloud yelled in desperation but no one answered his pleas.

He finally screamed and let his face stay on his friend's chest.

"You said that you will never leave me. That you would come with me and we would become mercs. So don't go! You have a promise to keep!" He whispered tugging his friend turtleneck.

" _Your dream was to become a hero, right?_ " He said holding tighter the turtleneck and finally, he let himself cry.

" **_To me...you are one!_ **" Cloud sobbed.

Then suddenly something touched the back of his head and he lifted it. He saw a hand and Cloud's eyes immediately looked towards Zack's face.

Zack had opened his eyes looking at him. His eyes had turned back to normal making Cloud smile at him and now he cried louder. Zack's smile made Cloud heart lose a beat and when he talked Cloud was sure that everything now would be ok.

**_"So...mission accomplished?"_ **


	4. Healing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I noticed the hits and the kudos and I lost my mind! Thanks!!!
> 
> Either way, Here you go!

After Zack was ok and he could stand up, Cloud had helped him walked to Sector Slums 7. After they had finally arrived, they had stayed in Cloud's room. Cloud was still on edge. Technically Zack was still in mako poisoning. For that reason, Cloud was by his side all the time.

Cloud had put Zack in his room on his bed and he had brought another bed. He needed to be close to him in case anything happened. Either way, Zack couldn't walk for too long after he had awakened. It appeared that the mako poisoning was fading and he was still trying to recover his senses in his body. Although he was in bed, his energy hasn't run out since his mouth was doing it. He talked and talked like the Zack Cloud knew.

That was great! Tiring at times because Zack wouldn't shut up but his voice being there was something that Cloud didn't know he needed. After the first night, the next day Zack didn't talk as much. That put Cloud on edge again. But it appeared that Zack was thinking of a peculiar thing. How long was he in there? What had happened? With that Cloud was the one this time who talked. He told him what had happened after the... incident and Zack simply nodded. 

He had smiled at Cloud telling him that he followed what Zack had said they would do. A coincidence. Cloud smiled at him nodding even though he knew that it wasn't. Cloud knew or he had understood that after Zack's death... he was living a simulation that he had created in his mind and followed it. But now... but now, he would change that.

Zack's question drove him out of his thoughts asking where all the other people were. With that Cloud found them and introduced them. All the Avalance, the landlady, and Tifa. Zack knew Tifa so of course, their dialogue was more friendly. They also found out how long Zack was in the tube. 

_Four months._

After the incident Zack must have immediately been put in the tube, preserving him and healing him. Yet that liquid mako as Cloud remembered by the memory materia it was dangerous to touch. So being inside it was making Cloud unsure about the mako poisoning. _Was it truly one?_ Did Shinra do something else to Zack? So many questions with no answers.

In the afternoon, Cloud found Aerith and lead her to Zack. After just seeing him, Aerith let her basket fall from her hands and she immediately ran towards Zack. Zack on the other hand his smile doubled and lifted himself in the bed, crying.

It appeared so that Zack knew Aerith and that helped his situation better. Having familiar faces around him was a blessing. Aerith had hugged him tightly while sobbing as well as Zack. Cloud smiled seeing that interaction and closed the door leaving them alone. 

Then days passed by and each day Zack's health improved. He was moving a lot and he didn't fall asleep as much as before. He even started to walk but for several meters before he collapsed on Cloud who supported him. Slow but steady steps. Cloud also in the meantime did his job as a merc while another one was watching Zack. At first, when Tifa approached him saying that customers were waiting for him, Cloud had refused not wanting to leave Zack's side. Yet Zack's whining that if he stopped then their business wouldn't bloom, Tifa's harsh words and Aerith's hitting made him change his mind. But in one condition that someone would watch Zack while he worked.

That resulted in another whining from Zack that he wasn't a baby and a slap from Cloud. That then became a fight between the two males while the girls just laughed at them. It was so.... _normal_. Cloud felt happy. And hoped to stay that way.

That's was he was thinking these days. He had found Zack, his memories, his happiness. And that just two weeks ago. He was currently sitting on the wall that was looking at the train that arrived in Sector Slums 7. His gaze turned at the bench where Zack and Aerith were sitting and in front of them, there was a cart full of flowers. That was something that both of them promised to do when they would meet up again. And that's what he also remembered Zack saying to him when he was catatonic.

And even though Cloud doubted that they would sell that many flowers, they had sold more than Cloud would think so. Seeing them acting silly, both of them smiling made Cloud smile. 

He was actually hired to help them sell the flowers but Cloud knew that that was their thing. So he just watched them silently and ready to attack whoever was ready for a match. Zack was able to walk yet he still sometimes needed support and he couldn't stand for too long. He was getting better. His strength was getting back even if he couldn't still control it (having already smashed two doors by accident). Yet something was off. 

Cloud watched as Zack talked to his new customers. Sometimes he yelled for no reason and others he would get angry at anyone. He was getting aggressive Cloud noticed but it was for a short period of time that sometimes Cloud missed them. Zack would also not maintain eye contact as he used to. Cloud then started to believe that Shinra must have done something to Zack.

But nothing was off with him. Cloud had found scars on Zack that indicated where he was shot and by clear luck one had missed his heart. Yet nothing else. And for that short period of time to stay in the tube then whatever they did would be still there. _But nothing._

Cloud should be thankful that they just put Zack inside the tube to recover and didn't experiment on him. Yet, he was abandoned there. Alone. That made Cloud furious. Who would do that? Who would try to save Zack and let him there on liquid mako so dangerous that it could melt his mind out?

Cloud sighed and looked down. _No._ _He_ should be embarrassed. He let Zack there to die. He didn't check if he was still alive. He didn't help him. He wasn't doing anything to help. He was just there. And he dared to be Zack.

**_To live a lie!_ **

Cloud turned around and faced the wall. He didn't want anyone to see him upset. Then he remembered Zack's words. Zack had sensed how Cloud felt and in a random night, he had said that it wasn't his fault. He was in a coma. 

In a coma, he could wake up from if he tried more. Cloud watched his hands and he tightened them. He could yet he didn't. Cloud let his arm fall and looked again at the wall. Seeing an avalanche graffiti. Perhaps he needed to move on. To not live in the past. 

_To focus on his future._

No. Cloud turned and looked at Zack and Aerith. Their future! He smiled.

After a while, Aerith stood up and waved at Cloud.

"Cloud! We are finished!"

Cloud lifted himself away from the wall and walked towards them.

"You sold them all?"

"See? And you doubt us!" Zack shouted happy resting his hands on the handle of the cart.

"Yeah, yeah. Why you are standing? Sit down."

Zack pouted at him but moved towards the bench.

"Man! You sound like my mom! I am fine!"

Cloud nodded smirking "Yeah whatever. I will ask the floor that you landed down if you are later."

Zack raised his arms in the air. "That was one time! And stop it! You are embarrassing me in front of the lovelies!"

"Yeah sure. Sit down before I make you."

Zack smirked at him. "Then make me!"

Cloud smirked back. "Then I will!"

With that Cloud moved towards Zack who in return try to get away from Cloud grasp. But Cloud was faster and held him by the shoulder and put him down. Zack held Cloud's hands trying to pull them out but what Zack had learned for those passed days was that Cloud had now equal power as him. So, he cursed under his breath trying another way to stand up, smiling.

Aerith laughed at them. "You act like a couple!"

With that Cloud looked at Aerith and pulled his hands away from Zack, turning around not facing her. Zack on the other hand was looking at Aerith dumbfounded not understanding why Cloud acted like that way.

"No, we are not!" Cloud said and faced Aerith again.

With that Aerith moved next to him and put her hands behind her back.

"Oh really? Why you didn't face me then, _hmm~_ "

"I...hey don't come closer." Cloud stated while moving away from Aerith who had come closer to his face.

Aerith smirked at him clearly having found what was she searching for. With that, she ran towards her cart and started to move it.

"I will go first! You guys have fun and I will see you later~"

"Hey, hey!" Cloud started but Aerith had already left the train station leaving Zack and Cloud alone.

"She is a handful, isn't she?" Zack finally spoke after a while.

He was sitting on the bench, looking at the empty trainways. Cloud with a sigh and trying to figure out what Aerith had seen, he sat next to Zack. He nodded and Zack continued talking.

"When I have met her she was more cocky than before. Something must have changed while I was gone yet her personality is the same. Seeing her took me back at my days at SOLDIER. She was mad at me for not seeing the other 88 letters she had sent me but she forgave me. She had changed indeed." Zack stopped for a while and he continued.

"You know, I never felt more alive just by being here. I can do whatever I want and be myself. Sure it is boring but I can live with this." Then Zack laughed.

It was a tired laugh, something that you would force out.

"I... don't even exist anymore. I am no one. A SOLDIER without a sword. A SOLDIER without honor. A SOLDIER without purpose. Who would want a SOLDIER like me."

"I do!" Cloud finally uttered making Zack lifted his gaze from the floor and looked at him, shocked.

Cloud lifted himself and looked at Zack.

"I want you! You are someone Zack. To me you are everything! A friend, a family!" Cloud stated and held Zack's hands.

" **A hero!** _My hero!_ The one who risked his life to save me! You are everything you say you aren't and more!"

Zack looked at him and his mouth that had been a straight line it turned into a smile.

"Thank you, Cloud." He whispered and a tear ran down his face. Then he grinned at Cloud and brushed his hair.

"What?" Cloud asked.

Zack stopped his action when his smile turned bigger.

"It is just....you are talking. You are looking at me...you are responding to me. You are ok!"

With that, Zack started crying and hugged Cloud. Cloud understanding what Zack had meant hugged him and buried his head in Zack's hair. _Cloud wasn't in a coma anymore._

"It feels like a dream!" Zack whispered on Cloud's shoulder and Cloud hugged him tighter letting some tears fall from his eyes.

"It isn't!" Cloud reassured him and let the moment seek in.

**_-ooo-  
_ **

Everything around him was white. Cloud was sitting in the middle of this empty place. His eyes were closed and he was letting himself relax at this moment. He knew that someone would come and talk to him. Other times someone pleasant, others not. So he waited for them to come.

Sure enough, footsteps were heard and Cloud knew who had come.

"You are late." He said and the person didn't speak.

"I was looking for you but I can't find you. Are you gone?"

"From life? Huh, I wish!" The man spoke and Cloud didn't need to see him to know that he was smiling.

The man walked again and Cloud sensed him close to his back. So finally Cloud stood up and faced the hooded man.

"It can't be easy."

"Living? Yes, it isn't. Still, I manage. Either way, I am flutter that you are searching for me. Or are you looking for the thing I carry?"

Cloud looked at the hooded man. He was the same as he remembered yet the voice now was louder, more in control. 

"Maybe. Maybe not."

The hooded man smirked. "Or are you looking for something that no one knows?"

"..."

"So I am right. You want help don't you Cloud?"

Cloud looked down at his feet and didn't answer. He noticed now that they were standing on water shallow enough so only their shoes were getting wet.

"I...I can't trust you. Yet my heart wants me to. I must have known you yet I remembered nothing about you. You are a hole in my memory."

" **_Oh~_ ** I see. You are struggling with yourself. Something is still missing, you believe."

Cloud examined the man. "...yes."

"Unfortunately, I can't help with that part. Only you can help yourself recover. All I did was to start the engine. Now you drive. And you are doing great."

Cloud bit his lips looking up at the emptiness of this white room.

"Did you know?" He finally asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Did you know he was there? From the begging?"

The hooded man smirked. "Yes. Did I tell you that you will watch your past? _Didn't you?_ **_Don't you?_ **"

"Why you didn't do something? Why you let them put Zack there? To be forgotten?" Cloud asked annoyed.

"I can't alter the future. The planet has its course and its will."

"...the research you did, did it make you lose your mind?"

"The opposite! It opened my eyes!"

"So why didn't you do something?" Cloud stated and held the man by his cloak.

The man smirked again. "I couldn't...I, unfortunately, play a support role in this play. I exist for that reason alone. _My role_. But I can change it. I can make it the main role. So that's why I need those documents. That's why I need your help Cloud."

Cloud bit his lips again. "So this dream..."

"Exactly. It is another impact on our story. A talk through a phone. A conversation. Not a dream. This is happening like it would in real life and you will remember this after you wake up. I made it this way. It is easier to talk to you like that."

"Why you care for my safety while your actions show the opposite?"

This time the man smiled. A kind smile. That made Cloud let the cloak he was holding. It was a familiar smile. A smile that Cloud counted as a reward. Something that he treasured.

"I would never do something to hurt you. Hurt you without return. Even when I am not saying it..." The man looked up but the hood didn't fall. "...to me you are everything. Someone important. Someone that made me see something I couldn't see. And by return, I do the same now that you have lost your way. I will be here, helping."

Cloud watched him move around in the water and realized that the man didn't have any reflection in the water.

"What you see, I am not. I still need something more. Something that only you can give."

"The documents?" Cloud said casually but his mind was preoccupied with what the man said.

He must have high respect for that man since he felt pride for just those words for him. He was smiling he noticed and he replaced the smile with his usual face. Still, he felt proud, happy hearing something like that. So his heart was right. This man was someone he could trust. 

_Someone important._

"Yes and no. It is the first step. A huge one though and I need it. Either way, this was a job. So if you don't deliver them to me or else you will get a negative review."

"If you were somewhere I could find you then I would have delivered them to you."

"True but it was too dangerous to give them to me now."

That caught Cloud's curiosity. "Dangerous?"

The man nodded. "Don't you feel it? _Someone watching?_ Someone is trying to control us. And he did it already to you."

"What do you mean?" He asked even though he felt a chill run down his spine.

"Oh ho, I can't help you with this."

"Then with what you can help me? You are here for guidance and until now I see none." 

"You see it that way..."

Cloud stopped and watched the man circling him.

"What you are doing now is as written. Yet, you have done a plot twist that I didn't even see it coming. A good one though. So continue as you do."

The man put his hand on Cloud chest. "I will come and collect my documents in a week. Where you ask? Don't worry I will find you. Your payment is secured and will be ready to be delivered when you will truly need it. Now, your thoughts of what you will do..." He started and Cloud slivered at it.

_Did he just read his thoughts?_

"I can in here so everything you are thinking I can hear it too."

That made Cloud looked away and the man laughed. 

"Don't worry. It is really flattering that you are thinking so high of me. That makes me proud too." He smiled at him and Cloud relaxed.

"So where was I? _Ah, yes_. What were you thinking of doing. I also say go and do it. Either way, Zack needs help and a lot. That will help him. But you must find another way sooner or later. Think about it. Oh, also in your way there, there is a monster that was released from Hojo's lab. Go deal with it and believe me the thing you will get is something that you were searching for." 

Cloud nodded more sure than before. The man smiled again and pushed Cloud inside the water. The shallow water was now so deep that Cloud started to sink in it. He tried to get out but the water swallowed him showing him that this dream would end.

"Oh, Cloud." The man said and Cloud turned his gaze on him. He was just seconds before the water had completely covered his face.

**_"Your eyes are still the same."_ **

**_ -ooo-  _ **

Cloud lifted his hand trying to reach the man out of the water and filled his lungs with air that he didn't know he needed. He opened his eyes and saw the familiar ceiling of his apartment. He let himself relax and put his raised hand down. He put his hands in his eyes. As the man had said, he remembered that vivid dream. All of it even the last words.

_'Your eyes are still the same.'_

What did it mean? Cloud knew they held some meaning, something that he doesn't know, _yet._ He breathed out and looked at the ceiling. He was currently in his new bed near Zack who slept in his old bed. He could hear him snore peacefully. Zack had a rough day today having walked longer than before and also the breakdown he had with Cloud earlier. Cloud turned around still in bed and looked at Zack. He was facing Cloud. His mouth was open while he was snoring and one hand was out of the bed.

Cloud studied him. He was breathing normally, his face was peaceful and he was relaxed. That put Cloud at ease. At least someone was sleeping. He finally jumped out of the bed and got dressed. As the man had said, he had a thing to do. So now it was the perfect chance to do it. Now that Zack was asleep and couldn't stop him. Cloud walked closer to Zack and watched him. He pulled the bedsheets and covered him, took his new sword he had obtained while the buster sword was resting near Zack's bed.

Cloud had given back the sword to his rightful owner and Zack as he remembered brushed his sword with his hands and smiled. Then he lifted it, held it with both hands, and touched it on his head. With that, he cried as he gave his oath and murmured his honor. With that Cloud knew how special the sword was and what it meant for Zack to have it back. Cloud didn't complain as he had already been given a new sword. The Iron Blade. Good one but not close to his taste and limits. He needed a smaller sword. But until he found one, he could settle with this one.

Cloud left the room easy without making any noise and went down the stairs. He started making his way down towards the Seventh Heaven when something caught his eye in the opposite direction of his home. In the hideout of the Neighbor Watch, something birdlike moved. That made Cloud's suspension grow and immediately ran up. However, he found nothing. 

"Cloud?" 

A voice echoed in the hideout and Cloud looked at the door. There was Tifa who was resting her hand on the spine of the door and looked at him with worry.

"Did something happen? You look tense."

"I...well, I think I saw someone. Someone birdlike."

"Maybe...some pigeons?"

Cloud didn't move for a while and then nodded. "Maybe. Yes, you are right."

Tifa's smile was pleasant and friendly. "I can't blame you. I would be also when my friend was in such a condition. But you worry though too much. Zack is ok."

Cloud frowned at it and walked out near the edge of the floor and looked at the door of his apartment. 

" _I_...I am not sure."

Tifa had followed him and sat near him. Cloud did also still looking at the door. 

"What do you mean?"

"There is something off with Zack. He acts strangely sometimes. He yells sometimes and acts like he wants to fight. I have seen him do it when I don't watch him. I have noticed him do it when I look at reflections or when I am not near him enough. He acts differently when I leave."

Tifa listened to him and nodded. "Perhaps, he is not used with the people around him and feels safer when you are near him."

"Even to you?"

That made Tifa stop and she looked down at the door too. "...no. He sometimes yells indeed but I believed it was for the aftereffects of the mako poisoning. That he can't control the volume of his voice. But you saying that he doesn't do it when you are there now it makes me curious."

"I see...how was work." He said trying to lighten up the conversation.

Tifa understood it and continued. "It was actually...boring today. I didn't have as many costumers as the other days, that's why I closed early today. As I was going home, I saw you ran up here so I followed."

"I am sorry."

That made Tifa laughed. "For what?"

"For distracting you. You would probably like to sleep now after this long day."

"Not really. Actually, I don't mind sitting here for some time."

Tifa looked up at the sky and smiled at the stars. She started moving her feet.

"The stars are pretty today."

"Hmmm." Cloud said and observed them.

"They are so pretty as the ones I saw with you in the water tower."

Cloud glanced at Tifa, surprised with the change.

She smiled still looking up at the stars. "You remember them?"

"I do...now."

Tifa finally turned and studied Cloud. "Now?"

"I...I was there."

Tifa laughed. "Sure you where."

"I lied..."

"Lied?"

"I lied to you. I had memory loss. When I saw Zack again I remembered my past. Who I was. Who I was, truly. I was there when Sephiroth and Zack came in Nibelheim. I was one of the troops. I was embarrassed to talk to you. And I did nothing to stop Sephiroth. Nothing to stop him from destroying our home."

Tifa didn't speak and Cloud had turned his face away from her. He didn't want to see the face of...rejection. He had lied. But he hoped by saying the truth, he could fix some trust. Even a little.

Tifa had turned her gaze at the stars again and moved her feet.

"Do you remember the water tower?"

"Clearer than before." Cloud spoke and looked up.

"Do you remember your promise?"

"I do. To be there and save you when you will be in trouble."

"Then, you haven't."

Cloud finally turned his gaze at Tifa who was looking at him with a smile in her face.

"I don't get it." Cloud whispered.

Tifa tilted her head and closed her eyes smiling. "You haven't lied. You were there to save me when I was in trouble. You saved me for Sephiroth. You killed him. You saved others for dying. You weren't strong enough sure but you did what you could and that was enough. Our friends in Nibelheim know that. **_So stop!_ **"

Tifa's smile was sad yet her voice was clear. Finally, her tears escaped her eyes. Cloud hugged her letting her cry. Tifa lightly hit him in the shoulder.

"Stop blaming yourself. I did that. But I moved on. Do the same. We need you now here. I need you. _Ha,_ I even lied too. I didn't let you go. I didn't let you leave from here. I wanted you close. So selfish. We weren't even that close and I still need you. I want to know you. So Cloud..." Tifa escaped the hug and held Cloud's hands staring at his eyes. "...how about we stop hiding and say the truth."

Tifa wiped her tears and smiled at him. Cloud nodded. Then they talked. They talked as much they wanted under the light of the stars. 

"...so I was there too." Cloud finished his story.

"You experimented too?"

"Yes. As far as I remembered, I was. But I fell into a coma and as I have said Zack brought us here."

"So your eyes."

"Mako fused by the experiment. Not for SOLDIER."

"I didn't know Cloud. If I knew I would have come and helped you."

"Don't be. You didn't know. Either way, Zack was there."

"So, that's why you said this is mako poisoning. Because you have experienced it?"

"Yes, that's was my first thought."

"What?"

"The more days passed by, the more I think that this is not mako poisoning. It is something else."

"What it can be?"

"I...don't know."

Tifa nodded and looked at Cloud's door. "We will find a cure. And we help. Me, you, Aerith. Everyone."

Cloud despite himself smiled. That relaxed Tifa who in return smiled too.

"I know. That's why I am counting on you. I actually want you to watch over Zack for a while."

Tifa looked at him surprised. "Now?"

Cloud nodded. "Now. Now that he doesn't know where I am going."

"In the lab you found him?"

Cloud nodded again and stood up. Tifa followed suit. "Yes. There is some medicine there that helped him. Maybe it can help him recover."

"The one that you threw in his head."

Cloud chuckled then his face turned serious. "Who told you that?"

"Zack."

That made Cloud gasped. "He remembers that?"

"Yes and only that. Maybe when the medicine came in contact with his face he woke up."

"Perhaps..."

"Ah, Cloud I have a question."

"Hit me."

"How you knew that that tube was medicine?"

"I..." He started.

Then it hit him. He remembered the lab from the memory materia the hooded man had given him. But how he knew this from the start? Or the scientists he waved as he went inside the tubes that appeared to know him by name. Who was also the hooded man since his returned memories didn't show anyone that he admired? Finally, he felt the same pain. The white noise was louder than before.

He heard Tifa yelled his name as well as a hand supporting in his chest. Finally, he breathed out the air he was holding and his eyes focused.

"I...dont remember." He stuttered and saw Tifa near him giving him support.

" _You don't remember?_ Cloud you know what that means" She said with a worrying voice.

Cloud nodded.

**** _"I still have memory loss."_

**_ -ooo-  _ **

It was a easy kill. Far easier that he wanted to admit but he didn't complain. Cloud looked at the monster that had escaped Hojo's lab. As the hooded man had said the monster carried a materia that Cloud could use. A gravity materia. He had it but that specific one that he was holding was drawing Cloud closer. It was mastered so it was one that he would use immediately and wouldn't bother of mastering himself. He put it inside his belt feeling the mako flowing in him.

Cloud had already visited the lab and had taken all the medicine there was in there. It was less than he remembered but enough for Zack. Or Cloud hoped so. He watched the sky. Still night but he was sure that soon enough it would be dawn. With that, he started walking towards Sector Slums 7. He would need sleep because he was sure that with Zack the day would be more tiring than it needed it to be.

He smiled to himself unknown to him that behind him on the top of the lab there was a dark silhouette watching him. The silhouette smiled. It turned around and started walking away while one of its black feathers touched the ground.


	5. The Realization

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! This chapter is by far my favourite I have written!
> 
> So in here there will be some FF7 elements so I believe you will understand them!
> 
> Until the next chapter!!!!

"Is that true?" Zack said and showed with his hand the big sign.

Cloud looked at it and he grimaced. In it, it was him and Aerith being called the champions of the Colosseum. They hadn't yet changed the sign even though Don Corneo was missing and the Colosseum of pain had closed. He closed his eyes while Zack was shaking him clearly excited to see his friends in a sign.

"Dude! You are a champion! And in the most difficult Colosseum in the word after Golden Saucer of course. But wow Cloud. You have mastered the power of a SOLDIER!" 

Zack nearly screamed at him and stop shaking him. He smiled again at Cloud and looked at the poster. He grimaced when he saw that the poster had changed but his smile was intact. Nothing had changed with his personality. Cloud watched him walked around the streets of Sector Slum 6. After Cloud had given him some medicine, Zack's health had improved a lot and now not only he could run but he could carry his sword with no problem. He had put it behind his back and carried it with pride. 

A smile was like glued in his face and it never left it. He was having fun. And why shouldn't he? He could finally walk without support and was walking in familiar streets, seeing new things. He had also all his friends with him. Well, actually they had come here because Aerith and Tifa had closed a date which included shopping. And because they couldn't (or didn't want) to go up they decided to go to Sector 6 shops and have fun. They had dragged Cloud to come for a reason unknown to him and Zack was also a reason that he had come. Zack wanted to see Sector 6 again and walked more. Aerith and Tifa were in front of them watching the shops and had given some bags to Cloud to carry.

"Now, I see what they meant with carrying Choboco. You look like one!" Zack had turned to look at him and started laughing.

Cloud stopped moving. Well, he was stupid. That's why they wanted him to come. He sighed. Well, better him than Zack. Zack was ok but still, Cloud wanted him to relax for a while and heal more. Steady.

"Stop laughing!" Cloud said and slapped Zack behind his neck.

Zack continued to laugh and rubbed the place Cloud hit him. Zack smirked at him and winked.

"Ouch! Don't worry Cloud. I will feed you later at home... _ah._ " Zack started and Cloud kicked him lightly at the leg.

"Whatever." Cloud said and followed the girls.

Zack followed suit. "..."

Cloud watched Zack examined him and before he asked anything Zack opened his mouth.

"You look tense again! Loosen up!" Zack stated and hit him behind his back.

That made Cloud lose his balance and some boxes fell. He glared at Zack who started to whistle and didn't make eye contact. Cloud picked them up.

"Why I shouldn't be?"

"Come on! The girls came here for shopping. A way to relax. We should be doing also something after this of course. Or maybe we could now! Aeris, Tifa!" He yelled and the girls stopped and turned around to see them. "How about we leave the boxes in the hotel and you continue your shopping. Either way, we took the heavier stuff. Now after this road there are only cloth shops."

Aerith smirked at them. "You have something in mind don't you?~ "

Zack smiled and put his arm around Cloud's shoulder. "I want to teach Cloud the adult life!"

Cloud blushed and hit with his elbow Zack's side and Zack in return laughed. " _ZACK!_ "

"Hahaha, maybe he is still young for those!" Zack laughed.

"Then how about you find out if he is ready!" Aerith joked back and Tifa and Zack laughed.

Cloud started to get redder and bit his lips. He hid his face behind the boxes. 

"Then I will. Have fun girls. If you need anything we have the PHS!" Zack waved at then.

"I hope you don't need rescuing!" Aerith shouted and waved at them as well as Tifa.

With that, both parties were separated. Cloud and Zack went to the hotel they had booked to stay since they knew that the day will be long. They left the boxes in the girls' room and walked around Sector 6. Zack was shaking Cloud's arms in excitement while Cloud simply nodded. He was...not good at this. Now that they were alone, he didn't know how to start a conversation. He never had friends so it was something new to him. Yes, he had gone out with Zack and had spent time together when he was a Shinra trooper but also then Zack was the one moving the conversation.

Cloud wanted to talk, say what was in his mind yet something was stopping him. _Again._ But Zack knew him better than anyone so he didn't complain at the lack of excitement and words even though sometimes he turned back to look at Cloud. Zack was still afraid that all this was a dream. That's why Cloud was trying hard to start talking, to do something to help Zack.

_But he didn't know what!_

Eventually, they had made their way in front of HoneyBee Inn. Cloud looked away from it and started walking but Zack's hand stopped him in his tracks. Even though Cloud had more strength than before, Zack was still stronger than him. He watched Zack move his eyebrows up and had a stupid grin in his face.

"No."

" _Ah!_ So, you know this place. Come on let's take a look!"

"No! Zack, stop!" Cloud complained but Zack's hand didn't let go and he started to move Cloud by his grasp.

Cloud put his hand on Zack's hand and tried to undo it while he held his ground. Zack, on the other hand, didn't stop and tried to push Cloud. 

"Why are you embarrassed? It is natural! Haha, come on!" He laughed and Cloud blushed again.

"No, I can't go in there. He will see me."

That stopped Zack and with the lack of strength Cloud fell down in his butt. Zack helped him sit up.

" _He?_ " Zack said with a harsh voice that gave Cloud chills.

"...he had helped me with...something and if he sees me again he will ask me.."

" **_What!_ **" Zack growled lightly and that raised red flags to Cloud. Zack was getting mad.

"Zack calm down." Then it hit him. Cloud's blush increased and waved his hands around. " _No, no it isn't what you think!_ "

" **_Then?_ **" Zack hissed and crossed his hands in front of his chest. Waiting for Cloud to explain.

"He...he..." Then Cloud took Zack's hand and moved him away from the busy road and went to an empty alley. Then he started again. "He had helped me with Don Corneo..." 

Cloud continued his story and the more he explained the more relaxed Zack's face become.

"Oh, oh." Zack said and then he smirked. "So if we go inside he will put you again in a dress?"

Cloud's smile fell and he didn't react fast enough when this time Zack was the one dragging him. Again to the Honeybee Inn.

" _Zack! Oh, Odin! Zack stop!_ " Cloud whined and Zack laughed.

"Relax! We are not going there. He will go to the bar and drink. And maybe I will ask Aerith for pictures."

With that Cloud hit Zack who whined back. And as Zack had said they went for a drink. After that, they walked around before someone stopped them. Someone had called Cloud and both of them turned to see who it was. The black hair, large smirk, and the fan showed who it was. Madam M.

" _My, my~_ Beautiful as ever. Why didn't you come by my shop and closed an appointment with me? Was I so easy to forget?" Madam M said and let the fan under Cloud's chin.

Cloud looked at her unimpressed. "Busy."

"Nonsense! I could see you from afar having fun. With your friend." She said and her gaze finally turned towards Zack. 

Zack was glaring at her and that made Madam M chuckle. "Long time no see Zack." She said moved her fan in front of her face.

"Long time indeed. You are still scamming people?"

"Not anymore. I have found my drive. You on the other hand had lost it."

"Really? How sure are you?"

"If I see that beautiful hand of yours I will be."

" _Sad to be you_."

That made Madam M's eyes moved a little but her smirk didn't leave her face. " _My, my._ Why our champion is spending time with a trash like you is beyond my beliefs."

That made Zack chuckle at her. "Apparently to forget your terrible service." With that Madam M hit him with her fan.

Her smirk returned. "You are exactly as the Zack I remember. Sucks to be you but I am still waiting for you to come and close an appointment with me."

Zack smirked clearly irritated. "I will pass."

"Ah, why?~ Your friend here has come."

"My friend had his own mind and acts accordingly."

"Then he acts wisely." She laughed and waved at them as she walked at her shop. "I will be waiting Cloud! If you leave and don't come I will hunt you down and destroy you. _Bye!~_ "

Cloud waved and by his surprise, Zack waved back at her.

"What? It is called good manners. Something she doesn't have."

"Why she doesn't like you?" Cloud asked and Zack crossed his hands.

"I don't really know but I had refused her treatment. I might be the only one that had refused it and that makes her irritated. That's why she acts coldly at me and that makes me more eager to continue to refuse her treatment. She is easy to get under her nerves."

"Why you refused?"

Zack smirked and put his hand behind his neck. "I didn't have any money."

That made Cloud laughed.

"What? It is true! It was the first time I had come here after I was accepted to SOLDIER and my payment was little. So I refused it and she thought I was playing hard to get. And believe me, I would try it yet because she acts that way I will continue not. That would stop our game."

"For her to be so eager to see your hand it must mean that she feels something strong for you."

"Well, being handsome and gifted is a lot."

Cloud smiled. "Well, of course, it is true. But she wouldn't try to get you. She doesn't hunt poor customers."

"Hey!... So you believe I have that strong destiny?"

"Maybe. She wants to check it and perhaps knowing it, it would be actually beneficial. What else?"

"She wants to see my..."

"Excuse me! Cloud!" Someone else called his name.

This time it was Chadley. The road they followed had lead towards the center of Sector 6. There it was Chadley in the same place as Cloud remembered. Chadley smiled at him and eyed Zack. He smiled at him.

"It is really nice to see you again Cloud. As well as Zack Fair. It is a pleasure!" Chadley announced and gave his hand.

Zack shook it and smiled. "Hello! How you know my name?"

"I am actually working for Shinra but I am doing this business by calling data under its radar. So knowing all the SOLDIERS is actually my job."

Zack's smiled fell. "Oh...for how long did you work with them?"

Chadley adjusted his glasses. "Not long. Just recently but reading the documents and learning them make me change my mind. So with Cloud's help, I will be finally released by them. His help is beneficial to my research as well as my freedom."

"So you collect data? That's it?"

Chadley nodded. "Yes. And actually, I have enough to create materia to help Cloud with my research."

"You can make materia? That's amazing! Yet how can I trust you that you don't give them to Shinra?"

"I can't lie. I don't have any other option."

Zack examined him and his eyes shined. He opened his mouth but closed it when he saw Cloud. He then hummed and smiled at him.

"I see. Do you collect data only from him?"

"Actually no. His associates had helped me with my research but I still need a little more. Perhaps some help would be acceptable if mister Cloud doesn't disagree of course."

"Does it..." Cloud started but Chadley continued.

"Having checked mister Fair's health I can put the simulation without afflicting damage. It will be a bare simulation."

Cloud nodded.

Zack looked confused. "What exactly are you talking about?"

Chadley gave him the classes of the VR. "This thing you are holding is our new version of VR simulations in a portable device. You simply put the VR in your head and enter the simulation."

Zack examined the glasses. "Wow! So I can enter a situation with those whenever I want?"

Chadley nodded. "Indeed. But for today I will put the simulation's reality to low since you are still healing. It will feel pain but not enough to leave you with marks."

Zack looked at Cloud. "And you letting me try this?"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "Why? You don't want to?"

Zack clutched the VR in his chest. "No, no. It is just...why you agreed?"

"I don't see any harm. You will not feel pain and also it will show us how well you are holding in battle. And how rusty you are."

" _Hey!_ " Zack eyed the VR then Cloud again. "So, I can try it?"

"Omg Zack! You are acting like a child. I said yes! You will also help Chadley in his research and we will see how well you act so two birds one stone. Sit down and put them already."

That made Zack cheer and he hugged Cloud. Cloud was caught off guard with it but didn't have time to react before Zack moved and sat down at the bench. He put the glasses and entered the simulation.

Chadley moved next to Cloud and spoke. "You are experiencing a strong reaction."

Cloud stopped looking at Zack and glared at Chadley. "I don't know what you are talking about."

Chadley smiled at him. "It is fine. I don't understand it either. Anyway, the simulation needs some time to end so you have exactly 30 minutes until Mister Fair is done."

Cloud nodded and started walking around not far away from where Zack was. He was having fun Cloud noticed. What he didn't notice was the one that put the bag over his head.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

When Cloud took out the bag, he noticed the change in the area. He was somewhere between Sector 5 and Sector 6 Slums. And he was surrounded by people he knew. Corneo's men. A lot of them. His hand immediately went behind his back but there was nothing there.

"Looking for something?" One of them asked and he held up Cloud's sword.

Cloud cursed under his breath. He hadn't reacted at all when the bag was in his head. Then he understood. He was hit with a Time materia since he noticed that his hand left his back now. He clutched his teeth. He must have been hit with it at least twice since the time it took for his hand to return by his side was longer than needed. He looked up and saw the men moving around, circling him even more. 

"Ah, no big now are you?"

"You don't look that well champion."

"Perhaps a hit with the Time materia was too much for you."

"How about we help you with your condition."

One of them launched at Cloud but Cloud had started one of his materia before he came close. He hit him with ice2 and punched him. The contact made the man moved away hitting at least other two in the way. 

"Oh! Look! We have a fighter!"

"Nice it will be interesting!"

Then more lanced at Cloud. This time the punch didn't connect and Cloud punched the air thus giving a window of opportunity. One punched Cloud at the chin sending him down and he rolled at the ground. Cloud since he was hit the Time materia that roll made him dizzy and he didn't react at the kick. That sent him flying onto one of the men who held him. This time Cloud reacted and kicked behind him. The man cursed letting Cloud.

But another had come and pulled him by the hair. Cloud was going to punch him but his hand was restrained by another one. He hissed at the intense pain and a yell escaped from his mouth when he was hit with a Thunder materia not strong enough. But it was so close to his flesh that the mako escaping it electrocuted him. He fell on his back now since no one was holding him and tried to breathe. But another shock of electricity hit him making him jolt around. 

The materia was on him somewhere. And when someone activated it the mako was flowing through him and created a negative reaction, electrocuting him instead of producing a thunder. He tried to roll to stop them for touching the materia but someone pulled him up by his hair. The hand behind his head then disappeared and a punch connected with his nose. But Cloud had managed to move and bit the hand. That made the man in front of him cried and Cloud kicked him away.

He heard cries and curses but he didn't focus on them but rather in his sword. He had a Time materia there. He just needed to touch the sword and activate haste. So he ran at it. But someone made him fall down and held his leg. He then dragged Cloud towards him. Cloud turned and kicked the man in the face. The man saw it and dodged it while still dragging Cloud by his leg.

"Where are you going bitch? We have just started the party!"

With that, another man kneeled near him holding him by the neck. He tightened his hold on it and laughed at Cloud who tried to unclench it. Cloud tried to breathe but his slow movements were making this only worse for himself. He felt movement around him and then the hand left his neck letting him breathe.

When he opened his eyes, he saw all of the men over him observing him.

"Nice game."

"A good fight champion. Too bad it was your last."

"Still ruining this beautiful face is wrong, don't you think guys."

"Well, he asked for it!"

"Yes!"

"Either way, champion do you remember us? We are Corneo's men and your worst nightmare!"

"You ruin our business!"

"Our fun!"

"Now let's see how you like it, you whore!"

With that he was electrocuted again, this time spitting blood out. He jolted around, this time the magic was higher and he almost blacked out from it. He then felt himself being lifted and carried somewhere. He hit the ground and split more blood while he was put in a sitting position and then his hands were raised. Then a loud sound echoed in his ears and his hands were let free but they stopped somewhere. He looked up and saw his sword over him and over it they were his hands, tied up. If he could lift himself up, he could pull his hands out easily as there were just tied over it.

He split the blood in front of him, smiling when the blood touched one of the men yet his smile disappeared at the punch that made his head impact with the wall behind. He cursed and tried to focused on breathing.

This wasn't looking good.

He let his head down and then he felt something on his neck. A collar. That's were the materia was. He felt two more materias on it. He couldn't recognize them by the touch. But they were weak. Cloud opened his eyes, when he had closed them was unknown to him, and looked down at his leg. Someone was touching him. He shook his leg but it was caught.

"Oh, you are still awake. Good."

"Hey Mike, as I recall the champion was crossing dressing right?"

"Exactly that's why I have given him that beautiful collar. Like a whore he is."

"Oh, you think he is. How about we found out?"

"You read my mind."

Then someone touched Cloud's collar and he felt another way of mako rushing in his body. This time it wasn't a Thunder materia but a Time materia. And because it had a negative reaction it actually helped him recover his speed. Giving him haste. He immediately moved but more hands held him down.

"Not that you idiot! The other one!"

Cloud tried to tilt his head but a hand moved his head back hitting once again the wall. It was harsher than before making Cloud dizzy and then he felt another flow of mako in him. 

_No!_

A Heal materia!

That's bad. Thank god it was a weak one! Otherwise...

Cloud felt the rush of poison in his body. He gasped and closed his eyes. It was making him dizzy.

"You couldn't find another more powerful materia?"

"It was the only one I could find!"

"You know the first level of it the poison is uncontrollable and it changes every time we use it. Only after the second level, you choose the poison."

"Really? I didn't know."

"And by the looks of it, it is not what we wanted. Bumper."

"And what it is?"

"Maybe a dizzy poison. Or silence. Maybe the second."

"Well better than nothing!" Someone said and started to move his hand under Cloud's shirt.

Cloud tried to move away yet the hands holding down were making it impossible for him to escape. But he tried. He... wouldn't let them do this! He moved away moving the men near him also. That resulted in a punch that connected with his stomach. He hissed at the pain but refused to stop. He wanted to say stop yet he couldn't. He wanted to shout but it was difficult for him. 

He heard laughs making him sicker than before yet he didn't stop moving. The hands increased and he was finally immobilized. He then tried to sit up to make his hands get out from his sword but a hand reached his collar and he was electrocuted again. This time the hand didn't leave making the electrocution longer and more painfully and finally, he cried out.

Then suddenly it stopped. His head was down and he breathed hard. He couldn't move he noticed and he felt his body numb. Yet a familiar rush of mako washed over him making Cloud cursed. Not more.

Yet the mako this time was pleasant and he felt a lot better. Someone had touched his shoulder shaking it lightly and then he felt his hands getting down. They were positioned in his lap where he let them stay. This time he heard his name and a more violent shake. Cloud decided to open his eyes and look at the one shaking his shoulder only to see Zack's worrying face.

His face turned into a smile and then he felt Zack hugging him. He didn't move since he still felt numb but the pleasant feeling of the mako (Cure) was still moving in his body helping him. But Zack didn't like the lack of movement since he shook Cloud again. Cloud wanted to speak but the damn silence stopped him. Zack shook him again since he didn't get any reaction.

Then he felt Zack touch his collar. He didn't touch any of the materias but he observed them carefully. His mouth turned into a line when he noticed the heal materia. His eyes became harsh and violent and he showed his teeth. He turned his head in front of Cloud while still holding him and yelled. His eyes were cold as the words he heard were the ones he didn't want. He growled and let Cloud touch the wall so gentle like he would break him. He brushed his hair and then he left Cloud's side. 

Cloud tried to speak, to yell at Zack but nothing came out. That damn silence. Maybe if he... yes. He needed to touch the collar. Actually the Heal materia so he could try to help the silence. Bingo. He felt the antidote rushed through his body as well as the regen still moving around in his body healing the scars he had. He stood up carefully and breathed out.

**_Zack!_ **

Cloud took his sword and moved towards the direction Zack went. Sure enough, he heard cries and shouts as well as swings of a sword. He tried to scream Zack's name but the antidote still was running through him. Zack was battling Corneo's men with ease and that showed Cloud that Zack wasn't rusty at all. Yet the motions were weird. More like an animalistic style. That made Cloud ran faster at him. But Zack had managed to destroy all of them one by one without problem before Cloud arrived. 

Still, the sword was out and on Zack's hand. He was looking down at the blood that was coming for one of the men he killed and had his back at Cloud. Cloud decided to approach him but he was met with a kick. That made Cloud drop down on the ground. His instincts told him to move his sword and that's what he did. Then the Buster sword met his sword. Cloud was still in the ground making it difficult to move but easier to see Zack. And he gulped with realization.

_Zack's eyes had turned vibrant green!_

Cloud gasped again at the strength Zack put in his sword and how he tried to move it towards Cloud's neck. Zack's face was cold almost unknown to Cloud. That made Cloud realized. That wasn't Zack. He tried to scream Zack's name but nothing came out. Zack didn't stop and this time he put his foot on Cloud's chest, pushing it hard. Cloud cried at the extreme power Zack was putting making him lose his control on the battle between the swords. Zack's sword moved closer to Cloud's neck. So close that he would cut it open.

His neck! The collar! 

He touched the collar, felt one of the materia, and fired its power. Zack didn't move at all but Cloud understood which materia he had touched. The Time materia making Zack's movements slow. With that, he moved his sword up making Zack move back as well freeing Cloud. Yet Zack's speed wasn't so much reduced since there was another slice so close to Cloud that would have touched him if he hadn't rolled. Cloud tried to yell Zack's name again but nothing came.

Did he activate the right antidote? That question would be answered after he dealt with Zack. Zack was still attacking and even though the Time materia he was still moving faster than Cloud could comprehend. Everything even stopped faster than before since Cloud's sword was launched in the air and landed behind him so far away. Cloud swore. He didn't notice when Zack had moved but his hand had found its way to his neck, choking him. Zack even lifted him so he couldn't resist and watched him with those dead eyes. 

Cloud tried to move, think of something. His oxygen was starting to get less and less. _No..._

He felt tears in his cheeks. He hadn't save Zack at all. What friend was he? He couldn't even help him heal, help him recover His friend was here asking for help and he couldn't give it to him. Was he that useless? He gasped for air when Zack's hold became harder. He was so close and yet so far. _Why?_ **_Why?_ **

Why he couldn't save him? He had found the medicine and had given it to him. Why it didn't work? He was getting better with it. Then why it didn't do anything. That eyes that watched him so bluntly was showing that nothing had help and Zack's health hadn't improved...

Cloud started to lose his eyesight.

He had done nothing to help. He simply watched him. _Again._ Leaving him to die. To be controlled by the poisoning. Like he was...

Cloud didn't know long he had so with as much force he could master he cried Zack's name...

Then the green in Zack's eyes was reduced. His eyes became softer and then the realization hit them.

"Cloud..." Zack whispered and opened his hand.

Cloud fell down breathing the needed air. He held his neck and looked at Zack. He was looking at the hand that held Cloud and then his eyes turned shocked. 

" **_Who...who are you?_ **" Zack whispered and then gazed up in the sky.

Zack clutched his head and started screaming. Cloud looked in horror as his friend screamed and then fell unmoving to the ground.

**_-ooo-_ **

Cloud bit his thump not knowing what to do. He had checked Zack after he had fallen unconscious and healed him with one of the Restore materia. He was between giving the medicine he had or not. It could help him as he had seen but yet again it had done nothing to stop the poisoning. After he was sure that Zack was ok, he brought him to the hotel. He entered their room only to find out that it had one bed. At that moment he didn't care and he put Zack there. The few words he mastered to spill out were enough to put Cloud at ease but he wasn't relaxed at all.

The green eyes had returned and only because Cloud screamed Zack's name was he able to come back to reality. Now that Cloud thought about it, he was also about to die. He shook his head trying to mute this feeling and focus on what he needed to do. He could go ask Aerith for help since she was a healer yet she wasn't in her room. Cloud had checked. He also asked for any doctor only for all of them to unavailable. 

Cloud sighed and bit his lips. What should he do? He had freaked out. Zack wasn't ok. He had still the poisoning and it was worse than before since the green had doubled in its size. So, the medicine must have only slowed the reaction, and when something happened the mako got worse. He let out a sign. By the words and the movement, Cloud saw, Zack was back to himself.

_For how long?_

Cloud needed to do something. He needed a doctor. Maybe the doctor in Sector 5 could help but seeing how late it was, he must be unavailable too. He grinded his teeth.

What was worse, he couldn't get the damn collar out of his neck. It didn't have any zip or buttons. It was like glue in his neck. He tried to rip it off yet the material that it was made off was strong and couldn't be torn apart. Cloud sighed again and finally stop doing circles around the room and sat on one of the chairs facing the bed. He closed his eyes and put his hand on his head. He also had a headache. A strong one but the normal kind, not the ones he was used too.

Cloud stood up and went once again in the mirror near the door. He saw that damn collar again. It was black and had blue lace under and behind it so it wouldn't hurt or make scars at the neck. In front of it there were the three materia, thunder, Time and Heal and their weak light that emitted made the collar shine more. He once again tried to tear it up to take the materia out but nothing was happening. Then a knock from the door stopped Cloud for whatever he was doing. The mirror was positioned facing the door so Cloud just turned and opened it until the chain let it.

Madam M came into view and smiled at Cloud. Cloud had still his hands on the collar, hiding it. He didn't want her to see it.

"Heard you were looking for a doctor?"

"I am..."

"Then open the door. I can help."

Cloud eyes showed hesitation. "You are a doctor?"

"I still am but I have a more formidable business so I stopped doing it. Still, I can help for a price."

Cloud nodded and opened the door. Madam M came inside and faced him. She started brushing her hair when she noticed the mirror behind Cloud and she continued.

"My, my gorgeous as ever. So, Cloud the reason you are looking for a doctor?"

Cloud lead the way and went inside the bedroom. Madam M's eyes now widened and she turned at Cloud.

"So you are looking for a doctor to heal your unconscious friend?"

"I..."

"Give me a break! So you think I came here to help you and you showed me this abomination sleeping. Nevermind my good deed today." She shouted and started leaving when Cloud caught her arm.

"He isn't unconscious from a drink."

Madam M stared at him and when she didn't get any answer she snapped at him. _"And?"_

"He...fallen unconscious by poisoning."

Her eyes turned annoyed. _"So?"_

"He has mako poisoning."

That made Madam M standing there and then she immediately went near Zack. She kneeled near him and started to run tests at him. How Cloud didn't notice the bag she was carrying was another story. He stood there watching Madam M examining Zack. After a while, she stood up.

"Your friend is ok...for now. There is mako in his blood but the levels are normal for a SOLDIER as him. But I see that the levels suddenly raised up. Can you explain it?" She said and looked at Cloud.

He on the other hand, even though he knew what had happened, he couldn't just say it to someone random like her. So he shook his head but Madam M glared at him. Then before he could react, his hand was yanked from his neck and Madam M stopped, looking at him.

" _Oh,_ **_OH!_ **" She said and smirked at him. "Well, well, well. I see we had some fun. I didn't know you were kinky, champion!" She laughed at him and Cloud just watched.

"...what?" He finally asked her and by the tone Madam M stopped laughing.

"The collar."

"What about the collar?"

Madam M's eyes then shined. "So...you don't know that that collar is a Sex collar."

" **A WHAT!** " Cloud shouted at her.

That made Madam M laughed even more. "So you are so obvious as you look. That thing you wear is a Sex collar. Designed to give aphrodisiacs and slow the progress. And as I see the third is for another fetish. So...Zack..."

Cloud stared at Madam M with open mouth. What was he wearing was a Sex collar? So Corneo's men really wanted to.... He shook his head and tried to focus on the present. He looked away when Madam M smirked at him. He didn't know what to say. Madam M continued.

"So...Zack and...you were having..." She laughed when Cloud turned red and turned his back at her. He was so embarrassed. 

"I see. So, your friend had an emotional reaction and the mako got stronger...and maybe harder I don't know. What a killjoy and you waited for it..."

" **MADAM M** , can we focus?" He nearly screamed at her and Madam M smirked at him.

"Nevermind, Zack is ok but try to give him this. This is a medicine we give to SOLDIERS when we see that the mako levels had increased in their blood." With that, she handed him an orange tube.

Cloud eyed the tube and pulled out the same one from his belt. Madam M saw it and opened her mouth.

"So you also have this. Then as another counterpart make Zack give some of his mako."

"How can I do this?"

"A good question...does he become aggressive?" But the way Cloud reacted Madam M continued. "...I see. So why does he still have mako poisoning?"

"Is this bad?" Cloud asked anxiously and Madam M didn't answer. 

"I... I don't get it! He gets the medicine he needs and shows his aggressive side so why he still has the poisoning? Maybe if I..."

Then she took out one of Zack's gloves. "This is not how I wanted to see his hand but oh well. I can't do anything else." 

She said and touched it. Then she immediately backed away hitting Cloud. Cloud held her and helped her stood up. 

"What did you feel?" Cloud asked her and Madam M started breathing heavily.

That made Cloud more anxious and eyed Zack. He hadn't reacted at all.

"He..." Madam M started and Cloud gazed at her. "He is drifting to the darkness."

Cloud was about to ask her what she meant but she moved away and ran to the door. There she stopped and looked at Cloud. She opened the door and with her final words, she left the room.

"But a light is still holding him here."

**_ -ooo-  _ **

Cloud heard someone moving in the room. He stood up from where he was sitting and he noticed something. His body was still sitting with his head down. He was sleeping on the floor, touching the bed with his back while Zack was still sleeping in the bed. He didn't want to sleep with Zack on the same bed so he decided to sit next to it ready to act when Zack needed something. He didn't know that he would fall asleep.

"Well, you also had a hard day today." The familiar voice of the hooded man echoed in the room.

"So, this..." Cloud started but he was interrupted by the hooded man.

"Yes, it is a dream. You are there sleeping but I wanted to see you in real life. To see what happened to you."

Cloud didn't say anything but turned to face the hooded man. He was staring at him and he nodded.

"Why you blame yourself? You didn't know."

"But I let it happen..."

"No, you didn't. They did it. You were outnumbered. You had managed to help Zack recover but they make him relive the past."

"The past?"

"Yes. You were unmoving, sitting on the floor and didn't talk. Like..."

"When I was in a coma."

The hooded man agreed and walked towards Cloud. He put his hand on Cloud's shoulder and squeezed it.

"So stop blaming yourself. Didn't you save him?"

"How? I made him fall unconscious and Odin knows for how long." 

"Not long. He will wake up. And you stopped him for becoming a monster. You helped him understand who he was."

Cloud didn't say anything and he felt the hooded man moving him. His face touched the hooded man's chest. He suddenly felt his eyes burn.

"Being lost for so long doesn't make you a disaster. It makes you human. So cry. Let yourself heal and move forward."

Yet he couldn't. He felt tears coming out and he didn't feel himself lighter. He wanted to but something stopped him. His mind was still trying to find an answer to all this. The man then put his fingers under Cloud's chin and lifted it. He watched him for a while and then moved back giving Cloud space.

Cloud wiped the tears that had escaped his eyes and looked at Zack.

"Is Zack..."

"No, he will not be swallowed by the darkness if you act quickly."

"But I must find the light and help him held into it."

"Yes."

Cloud turned and shouted at the hooded man. "And how I know what is that light!"

The man simply smiled at him. "Oh, you know what it is."

Cloud was about to open his mouth when he felt his body going numb and something dragging him away.

"Shit...He found you! Cloud don't belie..." 

The hooded man yelled at him but Cloud felt himself moving and then he opened his eyes. He looked around him and he saw that now he was back at his body. He stood up and looked at Zack. He was still sleeping peacefully. Cloud then circled the room. He didn't have a good feeling about this. He walked some meters away from the bed looking at the door. He felt something brushing him so he turned his head back. Then he saw a black wing moving and...

_Sephiroth!_

He fully turned facing him but Sephiroth had the upper hand and pushed him. Cloud fell onto the door where Sephiroth pinned him. Cloud then tried to push him away and he managed to but then he felt a strong headache making him clutched his head. Sephiroth took this to his advantage and rolled Cloud throwing him at the door. Cloud hit his head into it making him lose some time to react. Then Sephiroth opened the door and threw Cloud out.

Cloud rolled and stood up feeling better than before. He was ready to fight Sephiroth only to notice...that he wasn't in the hotel. He stood in an empty and endless ground. Around him, he could see stars. Sephiroth was slowly and elegantly flying down and when he touched the ground he smiled at Cloud.

"Finally the two of us." He said and walked towards Cloud.

Cloud was ready to pull out his sword only to remember that he had left it near Zack's bed. He cussed but he remembered the materia in his belt.

"Anything you do is useless here. I am the master of this world."

_Like hell, he would go down without a fight!_

"You are a hallucination."

That made Sephiroth smirked. "Oh, am I? Truly Cloud I would think putting you here would make you understand but still, I have a long way to go. But I can wait."

Sephiroth then moved at Cloud who dodged the attack. Sephiroth moved his sword ready to slash Cloud who again managed to dodged it while he fired ice3 at Sephiroth. Sephiroth with a fast motion of his sword destroyed the attack completely making the ground take the ice. He smiled.

"Well, well. It seems it had helped you. I see familiar strategies."

"Shut up!" Cloud shouted and fired fire2 at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth moved his sword again and destroyed the attack but this time the slash created an attack that moved towards Cloud. He nearly dodged only hitting him lightly at the arm. Sephiroth moved at Cloud and Cloud parried the attack by jumping over him. Sephiroth had turned and watched him land. He smirked again and he showed his hand at Cloud.

"Very good. How about this?" He spoke and then he snapped his fingers and Cloud fell to his knees clutching his head.

The headache had returned as well as the green spots in his eyes and he couldn't breathe. Then everything stopped when Sephiroth touched his hand and threw him away. Cloud was lifted from the ground and found himself hitting a wall. He opened his eyes and saw that he was in his hotel room. Sephiroth touched his hand again and pulled him up. 

"Precisely as I want it. Perfect. Still, I see more resistance that I need." He said as Cloud yanked his hand away from Sephiroth's hold. "Perhaps a lesson would be wise..."

Cloud didn't catch the last words since he felt himself starting to feel dizzy and when he opened his eyes he saw... Zack there... down with blood all around him.

**_Dead._ **

Cloud's mind went blank when he saw Zack and ran with desperation at him. But then he touched the mirror of the hotel room. Cloud tried to calm down and breathe when he noticed his eyes... his eyes had green tones into them. Like....like...

"Zack's?" Sephiroth's voice echoed in his mind and when his eyes finally focused he saw him standing behind him.

"They are truly like Zack's. Either way, you were both experiments, right?."

"What..." Cloud whispered and then his voice was lost. He looked once again at his eyes.

_They had turned green._

"Even though you have great resistance to me when I show you your moment of vulnerability you instantly let it down. Easy for me to enter and manipulate you. Make you a puppet."

Sephiroth whispered at Cloud's ear and moved him. Cloud started falling but Sephiroth's wing caught him before he touched the ground. Sephiroth's wing then moved him up making him eyed Sephiroth.

_"A perfect puppet._ **My puppet.** Without my guidance you are nothing." 

Sephiroth brought Cloud in front of him and Sephiroth put his hand behind Cloud lifting him from his wing. Cloud didn't resist at all and Sephiroth smirked. He put his hand under Cloud chin and lifted his head to see him.

"Even your eyes now resemble mine. Don't they Cloud?"

He then turned Cloud around facing the mirror. Cloud saw his eyes and indeed they looked like Sephiroth's. He wanted to scream, move but his body didn't respond. Nothing responded at his will. Sephiroth had put his head at Cloud's shoulder watching from the mirror. His wing had circled Cloud lower body helping him stood up.

"I can do whatever I want with you Cloud. Yet this is not what I want. This is my last resort. But a lesson is a lesson." Sephiroth's breath touched Cloud's neck sending chills down his spine.

Cloud tried to close his mind. To stop Sephiroth doing this. He needed to move, fight. Do something.

"You can't. Not when you still have Jenova's cells in your body. And if you continue to fight harder you will hurt your friend."

Friend? _Zack?_ Sephiroth smirked.

"Still clueless. Pathetic. But because I want more from you I will show you." Then he moved Cloud's hand up and make it touch the mirror.

Then the mirror changed and he saw the lab. Not the one he found Zack but the one in Nibelheim. Where he was experimented. He saw himself inside one of the tubes as well as Zack on the one next to him. He gasped and slightly moved watching it and he felt Sephiroth smile.

"You were dimmed failures. Yet you carry the Jenova cells. Making you a success. Not like the others who have them but let them take over their bodies. You are living with them. Like me. But you can't use them as I can. Making you the perfect puppet from me to use." 

Cloud felt his head moving away from the mirror with Sephiroth's hand and it made him stare at the now standing Sephiroth. Sephiroth looked down at him and smiled. He then showed Zack, who was still in bed sleeping.

"Can you guess what is happening to your friend?"

Cloud's eyes widened. Sephiroth smiled.

"The Jenova cells have entered your friend even though he was a SOLDIER but they hadn't effected him as yours have. He is indeed a failure."

Cloud eyes turned harsh and if he could move he would have punched Sephiroth. Sephiroth laughed.

"Then why his eyes turn green?"

Cloud stared at Sephiroth. Sephiroth nodded and then Cloud talked. "Y...you..." He stuttered surprising himself.

Sephiroth shook his head. "I can't control him. I can't manipulate him. He has the cells but I can't use them."

"Y...you can...." 

Sephiroth smiled "Oh I can...with your help..." He started and took Cloud's other hand that wasn't touching the mirror.

Then with a swift motion, Cloud felt pain in his wrist and he felt Sephiroth moving behind him while still holding Cloud's hand. Then Cloud noticed it. He saw a red string starting from his wrist and ended at Zack's wrist. 

"A string of fate. That's is what is called but...yours isn't one." Sephiroth whispered to his ear.

"W..what..." Cloud started but Sephiroth squeezed his wrist more painfully.

Cloud closed his eyes trying to silence his cries. When he opened them the string had changed colors. His part of the string was white, the middle was red and when you were getting closer to Zack's the color turned black.

"The string has multiple colors. Worrying since a string must have only one. Ours is black showing that we are arch enemies. Yours is unique. You have white and Zack has dark. And if you move your hand..." Then he moved Cloud's hand. "...you can see something."

Cloud watched Zack's end of the string and saw that the black started falling down to the ground.

"The more black it becomes, the more liquid it collects until eventually... it breaks. And if it breaks..."

Cloud felt a chill run down his spine.

He finally understood it. What Madam M said earlier. Zack was falling into the darkness but a light was holding him up. Cloud was holding him still here. He was the light.

"...when it breaks then I will be able to control him. You are the reason I can't use him. A protective layer. Only with your help, I can use him. But why his eyes turn green, you think. Well, that's easy, _my puppet."_

Cloud then moved with the help of Sephiroth's wing and he was pushed again in the mirror. This time Sephiroth held his hands in the mirror making him bent in a way that Sephiroth would fill the gap behind him perfectly. Cloud's head was facing the mirror and saw Sephiroth moving behind him until his body enclosed his. Sephiroth's wing had moved up and now some of its feathers brushed Cloud's face.

"The string you have with Zack is the string of living. The string eventually breaks and only one survives it. The string is a combination of both of your actions affecting the other. And as I can see, you are putting your friend in trouble."

"N...no...I would...never..." Cloud stutter his words and then he felt Sephiroth's hand run through his neck until it reached Cloud's collar.

The hand went in front of the materias and he felt one of them being activated. Then the hand went behind the collar pushing Cloud's head down. Sephiroth whispered again in his ear.

"Really? Then what you saw dripping from Zack's end was who's doing?"

"I..." Cloud started but closed his eyes on the overwhelming feeling he felt. 

"You put him in the darkness. And your end is in the light. But the string is still intact which means you are still holding him here. But you can easily make him fall again. And when you make him fall you are moving him closer to me. Ready to manipulate. Can you guess what are you doing that makes him come closer to me?"

Cloud with his eyes still closed tried to focus and think of what he did that hurt Zack. He breathed hard when Sephiroth held his hair and moved him up harshly. He opened his eyes and saw himself in the mirror. His eyes were scanning for something there and then they focus on his pinned hands.

_"Memories..."_

Sephiroth smiled. "Exactly Cloud. The more you remember, the more you put your friend in danger. The more you are becoming yourself the easier it is for me to use Zack. So what it will be, Cloud? You being my puppet in this play and letting Zack live? You remembering who you are and letting Zack fall to me?"

Then Sephiroth pushed Cloud onto the mirror, pinning him completely. 

" _You or Zack?_ " Sephiroth whispered in his ear.

**"His fate is in your hands."**

Then Cloud felt himself fall limb in the mirror. He managed to hold himself up and he slowly moved his head back to see himself. His eyes were back to normal and Sephiroth had left him alone. He punched the mirror, hearing it shattered and let himself fall down in the floor.

**_Then Cloud finally cried as black feathers surrounded him_ ** _._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So if anyone wants to find me, I am in Tumblr, Twitter and other socials medias but in thoses two I am more active! With the same name! Monopsys.
> 
> So have a nice day!!!!


	6. A New Start

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello everyone! I hope you are doing ok and stay safe! So here we have a new chapter! This one turned nicely without any problems!
> 
> We are going smoothly and that makes me happy! As well as the comments I receive and the kudos! Thank you everyone!!!!
> 
> So Shall we?

Cloud shook lightly his head. This...was weird. He didn't feel the hard floor but something soft. Did he take any pillows and put them on the floor? After everything that happened Cloud had decided to sleep yet again next to Zack's bed on the floor. Yet he didn't fell the hard floor under him. _Weird indeed._

Still, he was too tired to care so he let himself fall asleep until he felt something in his waist. _A hand._ So one of Zack's hand was dangling at the edge of the bed and was touching Cloud. Was Cloud so that close to the bed? He let that slit and didn't bother opening his eyes. After a while, though he slightly moved some meters away from the bed. But the hand had grabbed him now and he felt a motion near him. Like someone getting closer. So Cloud finally opened his eyes.

And he saw Zack staring at him. His half-closed eyes were observing him and then they opened when he noticed that Cloud had woken up. Then both of them jolted away from each other, fully awoken. They had now sat on the bed in awkward silence. Cloud put his hand behind his neck trying to hide his awkwardness and then he noticed it. He was on the bed not on the floor. He looked down at the floor and back at the bed.

"Is something...wrong?" Zack laughed awkwardly as he asked Cloud.

"I...um... I was sure I was sleeping on the floor yesterday."

Zack stared at him and opened his mouth. "Really? And I thought I threw you off the bed. Wait! Why did you sleep on the floor?"

Cloud looked away from him. "I wanted to give you some space."

"Space? This is a king bed."

"Well, I know that... _wait!_ What did you mean when you said you threw me off?"

This time Zack put his hand behind his neck. "Well, I thought I threw you off the bed, and well, I put you back in the bed. Or I thought that you fell off and....um....couldn't...."

Cloud stared at him while Zack avoided eye contact. Cloud shook his head finally understanding the hidden meaning behind the words.

"Zack..."

Zack still didn't look at Cloud. Cloud came closer to Zack and put his back in the wall still sitting on the bed. Then he put his hand on Zack's shoulder.

"Zack... tell me."

"Tell you what? I..I am fine." Zack's words came out like he was choking on them. He still didn't look at Cloud.

"Zack, stop lying." Cloud whispered and squeezed Zack's shoulder.

Then with a swift motion, Cloud's hand was yanked from Zack's shoulder. Zack held the hand and had now fully turned towards Cloud. His eyes betrayed his smile as some tears had escaped.

"I....I am fine." He whispered and Cloud moved and hugged Zack.

He squeezed Zack and let his head touched Cloud's shoulder. He felt Zack stop and then he heard quiet sobs. Cloud squeezed Zack and let him speak while he felt tears touching his shoulders.

"I saw you...there unmoving under the bed and I thought that...that you were... that we were back in the past. Like you were in a coma, in mako poisoning all over again. Anything I did you didn't respond. I thought everything that happened was a dream and I...had lost you again. So I was looking over you so you didn't attempt to fall over again. After some time you shook your head and moved back ready to fall over the bed. So I held you. And then your eyes opened and I thought that I was still in a dream...."

Zack then stopped and his sobs became violent. Cloud tightened his hold. He felt tears of his own leaving his eyes. This time Cloud needed to help Zack. Truly help him. Cloud needed to show Zack that this was not a dream but a reality. 

_'His fate is in your hands.'_ Sephiroth's words echoed in his mind and Cloud opened his eyes more determined than before. Indeed Zack's fate was in his hands. So he would help him recover whatever the casualty. He needed to help him come over the light. Stop him for being lost. And that's what he would do. 

Even if what Sephiroth had said was true, he would try. Try for both of them to recover. And if all this was true then...

**_'Zack or you?'_ **

Cloud shook his head and try to focus on the present. When he felt that Zack's sobs had quieted down, he stopped hugging Zack and lifted his head to see him. Zack stared at him.

"What you see is reality. You are alive, I am alive and we are here together in Midgar. Both of us are mercenaries and work together." Cloud took Zack's hands and clasped them. "We are in this. Together"

Zack's eye scanned Cloud's face. "How I know you are real?"

Cloud touched Zack's forehead with his own. "Do you feel it?"

Zack fell silent for a while but moved his forehead again. Then his eyes opened and a new light was on them. 

"I do."

Cloud moved his head back and pushed his hair away from his forehead. There over his left eyebrow, there was a huge scar than ran thru his eyebrow. Barely noticeable but above his eyebrow was deep enough.

"That scar was your own doing when I found you in the lab. You hit me the Buster sword and created this scar. I didn't have that scar before. This is a small sign of what is real."

Zack after a while seeing the scar moved his hand up and brushed Cloud's hair. And that's what Cloud wanted him to do. In that way, Zack felt the scar. Showing him that the Cloud he saw was real. Then finally Zack smiled and continued brushing Cloud's hair.

"It is something but...sorry."

Cloud shook his head. "I am not. If it helps, I want it. And also having it, it makes me more dangerous to the enemies. It gives character."

Cloud then earned a hit in his shoulder and he laughed. Zack chuckled too and said.

"Nah, your babyface is still noticeable! Not like my scar."

Zack was then hit in the shoulder and he was the one laughing this time. Then the laughter stopped when he saw Cloud holding his head.

"Cloud..." He asked with worry

Cloud looked at him and smiled. "I...ha, if I said that I was fine, you would hit me...ouch, hey!" He said and brushed his shoulder.

Zack's eyes had turned serious making Cloud stare at them. 

"Cloud."

Cloud sighed. "We both are not in a good position."

"What do you mean?"

Then Cloud said his story. About the terrible headaches, that he kept hearing things and seeing things and sometimes he didn't feel like himself. He skipped Sephiroth since he didn't want to worry Zack too much and Cloud also didn't want to mention him. Mentioning him would mean that he would need to say about the string between them and what that meant. So he said that he saw a familiar person walking around.

All this time Zack was listening to Cloud and held his hand when Cloud stopped to show him that he was there. Listening. After he was done, Zack and Cloud had let their backs touch the wall and looked at the ceiling. Then Zack fake laughed. Cloud turned and looked at him.

"What's so funny?"

"That...we are both fucked up. But if we are together I believe we can overcome it!"

Zack smiled and squeezed Cloud's hand. Cloud smiled and nodded at him even though part of him knew that the string had another business with them. But now he didn't care about it. His interaction with Zack was finally not awkward and he could be himself around him. He smiled at himself when he felt Zack lifting his chin up. He had moved away from the wall and observed Cloud. Then his hand moved towards his neck and Cloud eyes widened.

**_The damn collar!_ **

Zack's eyes had become cold when he saw it and he showed his teeth.

"Those bastards!" He whispered with anger and Cloud finally moved and held Zack's hand that was still in the collar.

"They are gone now."

"Sure are! I _dealt_ with them." His eyes focused on Cloud's face and then they softened. "They had already done enough and deserved what they got."

"I know."

Zack's eyes closed. "To think that...they had you unconscious and unmoving like when you were..."

" **_Zack!_ **Don't...don't think about it." Cloud's voice shook with emotion but Zack smiled.

"Don't worry. Seeing this..." He gestured at the collar. "...is enough. It is new like the scar. It even looks good on you." He whispered the end but he put his hand over his mouth.

Zack moved his head away while Cloud hit him in the shoulder. Zack laughed and Cloud continued to hit him.

_"Zack!"_

"Hahaha, sorry I didn't want to say that loud." Then he blushed at what he had said and stuttered at his other words. "No..this isn't what I wanted to...to say! _Shit!_ "

That made Cloud smile but his blush increased too. But the words that Zack uttered made it disappear.

"What did I do?"

Cloud didn't say anything so Zack returned his gaze at Cloud's face and repeated.

_"What did I do?"_

"What do you mean?"

Zack's turned serious. "Cloud. _Please don't lie to me._ I saw the collar when I rescued you."

Cloud was confused so he asked. "I don't understand."

Zack let out a sigh. "After I had left you on the wall I went and dealt with those bastards. Then I blacked out and I remembered you screaming my name. Then I woke up here."

"Yes, I..."

" _Don't._ **Lie.** I did something. When I saw the collar the first time, it had nothing behind it..." He lifted Cloud's chin again. "...and now under the collar, I see a purple area forming. Did....did I choke you?"

Zack stopped and Cloud finally understood. He closed his eyes and remembered how close he was to death after Zack nearly choke him into it. He opened his eyes and he nodded. Zack took his arms away and fear came into his eyes. Then Cloud went into action and caught it while shouting.

"It wasn't your fault!"

"And whose was it?"

"You were under the influence of the mako poisoning! You didn't control yourself."

"Then that's the thing Cloud. I can't control myself. The black spots in your neck indicate that I was so close to choking you. **_Killing you!_ **"

" _Zack!_ **_Shut up!_ **"

But Zack took Cloud's hand away from his own. He must have broken his wrist because Cloud felt pain and Zack looked at it. He bit his lips and looked with fear at Cloud.

"Can you see? **I am dangerous!** I just broke your wrist!"

"I can fix it!"

"For now long! Hm, Cloud! **_FOR HOW LONG!_ **"

"As far as I need to help you recover!"

"And if that never happens! What you gonna do Cloud? Hmm! Let yourself suffer!"

" **YES!** "

"You're wasting your time and you know it! The medicine that could help did shit and now I got worst! I am not going to get better!"

" **YOU ARE!** "

" _I said stop_ **_LYING!_ **"

"You will recover and I am gonna help you do it!"

"And how Cloud? Nothing had helped me. **_NOTHING AT ALL_ **. I will just be more violent each day it passes until I finally don't have any control!"

"I will fucking help you even if it takes me a fucking eternity!"

"No, you won't! _I WILL KILL MYSELF BEFORE THIS HAPPEN!_ "

Then a slap was heard and Zack moved his hand on his cheek. That slap was so powerful that it stopped Zack from his thinking. He stared at the person who slapped him and before he said anything he closed his mouth. Cloud had still his hand up after he had slapped Zack and tears were running in his face. His face was angry yet his eyes were soft. He moved his arms and held Zack by his cheeks forcing him to see him in the eyes.

"You will never be a waste of time. You will never be someone dangerous. **_I WOULD NEVER ABANDON YOU!_ ** Like you helped me recover, I will help you recover. Slowly, fastly... I don't really care! As long as I see progress it is enough for me! You have made progress! You can walk, you can fight! And you will continue to made progress with or without my help. But as long I am here, A _S LONG AS I AM FUCKING NEAR YOU_ , I would never ever let you go. **_IS THAT CLEAR!?_ **"

Zack nodded and Cloud hugged him forcing his sobs to be silent.

"Like you said Zack, we are both fucked up. But we can recover with each other help. So let's try it! Let's make a new start and help each other understand what we feel. What we need. All before this is in the past!"

Zack stared at him after Cloud had moved back from the hug and gazed in the eyes. Zack's eyes were lost yet showed an emotion that Cloud couldn't recognize. After a while, his face turned normal, a smile appeared in his face and he winked at Cloud.

"A new start. I like that."

Cloud smiled with relief and nodded.

"Then a new start it is." He said with a smile and showed his arm.

Zack understood what Cloud wanted and they did their weird handshake from the past were they touched their arms. Both smiled and wiped their tears. _A new start. A new meaning._

Zack laughed and then stared at the collar. Cloud stared to feel once again unsure until he saw Zack put his hand behind his head and said.

"Um, I have a question."

"Say it."

"Why are you still wearing that collar?"

Cloud reddened and looked away. "I can't."

"Why? Do you like it so much? I can buy you another one for you or a new one to..."

He was hit in the face with a pillow muffling some words.

"Zack! What I meant is that I cant take it off. It is like glued on."

Zack looked at him puzzled. "But these new models have a zip behind them."

Cloud watched him. "How you know that?"

Zack opened his mouth and closed it again while blushing. "I...um... shut up! I just know _ok!_ "

"So you know what collar it is?"

"Of course I do. It is a Sex collar...wait..." Zack smirked. "...you didn't know?"

This time Cloud blushed and Zack laughed. "Talks the one that knows that new models of Sex collars have zips!"

Zack flushed but put his hands behind Cloud's neck. "Yeah, whatever...you are right. Where is the zip?"

"I told you!"

"This is weird. Perhaps a button? Let me see...no."

"Then how it comes off."

"I don't know... well fuck it I will rip it off."

"Wait, _Zack..._ "

Cloud started to say when he felt something hitting him. He let out a gasp and put one of his hands on Zack's shoulder while the other was bitten to hide his moans. Then another feel and another and another. He felt overwhelmed by all of this and if it wasn't the hand in his mouth he was sure that he would be screaming out. He must have blacked out because when he opened his eyes, his head was on Zack's chest and his body was on Zack's lap.

Zack held him and Cloud felt the familiar mako of Regen running through his body. He felt relief and he opened his eyes fully to see Zack. Zack was holding Cloud's shoulder soothing him and on his other hand, he had the collar still intact. He had bent over Cloud and when he noticed that Cloud had opened his eyes he spoke.

"Oh, Cloud. I am so sorry. I didn't know the collar had a reaction system when it came out. The materias must have hit you all at once. I am so sorry. I didn't know the new models had that."

Cloud smiled at him. Still, in trace after the hit with the collar, he lifted his hand and brushed Zack's scar. Zack stopped and looked at him. Cloud's smile doubled.

"It's ok. Hahaha." He started laughing.

Zack stared at him and smiled back. "Well, Regen will heal you soon so until then hold up ok."

Cloud nodded. "Ok. I feel weird."

"You sure do, spike." Zack said and put Cloud in the bed.

He put his head in the pillow and Zack stood up from the bed letting Cloud rest. Zack watched Cloud for a while as he was laughing and then slowly started to fall asleep. All he was saying was nonsense but Zack was answering back happily. He smiled to himself and brushed Cloud's hair. Then he watched the collar still intact in his hand. It had a way to open it but it needed some thinking. 

Zack eyed the collar as well as one of the materias in it and he got an idea. 

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"This sucks!"

"I know."

"It is like I am back in my Shinra trooper years and was let to have a watch over the fucking building. "

"Hmmm."

"Are you even listening?" Zack asked.

After the effect of the materias on Cloud's body had washed over, the girls had come to pick Zack and Cloud. With wild intentions. It checked out that with the fight the boys had yesterday the PHS was destroyed and the girls were trying to reach them. When they apologized and had come in a proposition, the team came back in Sector 7. Today it was a special day for Sector 7. They celebrated the creation of it so lots of people had come here to celebrate with them so Tifa opening her bar this hour was normal. 

Aerith was selling her flowers as usual and a lot of small other street vendors had come to sell their goods. And why wouldn't they? It was a perfect day to sell them to the public. Cloud and Zack didn't have any particular thing to do so at first they thought of helping Aerith and Tifa but a job had appeared for them. Since a lot of people would celebrate today there wouldn't be anyone on the Neighborhood Watch. So Wedge and Biggs approached them and now they were up in the Neighborhood Watch hideout.

Zack was near the edge of the balcony looking around and Cloud was inside with Wedge and Biggs. Cloud, Biggs, and Wedge were sitting in the chairs. Biggs was upgrading his weapon, Wedge was petting his cat and Cloud was reading. He had found Chadley today and he had given him a detailed document of Zack's progress in the simulation. He had thanked Zack for his help yet he needed more research to do. But today he was here only to give Cloud the documents. After that, he had disappeared.

Cloud read the document while hearing Zack complain about the lack of excitement. As he was reading, Zack was in perfect health to fight without any problems and worry. He had great reflexes and fast movement while his adaptation reached the top. So, as Cloud had seen yesterday Zack was good and wasn't at all rusty. He just needed some time as the paper said to improve his techniques. 

"I am listening." Cloud answered back while putting the paper next to him on the table.

"I hate this!" Zack said aloud.

"I know." Cloud said and he crossed his hands in his chest watching Zack walking back and forth.

"Oh, wow I hate this!"

"I know..."

"I hate this job!" Zack had turned and looked at Cloud.

"You are a merc." 

"What that supposed to mean?"

"It means that you adapt to every job you get. So shut up and do your job." Cloud hissed at him and Zack pouted.

"Man.... if I knew that I can take that kind of jobs I wouldn't have agreed on being a merc." Zack turned and looked down on the streets.

"Well, bumper. You are one so suck it up and try to act like one!" Cloud shouted at him and saw as Zack did a fake impression of someone having a heart attack.

"Ah, Cloud so cruel! Why so mean! Why you hurt my feelings that way. And to think I like you."

"Zack, focus on your job before I _make_ you!" Cloud hissed again but smiled a little at the last words Zack said.

Zack murmured under his breath but did what he was told to. And after a while, he started to do squats. Cloud facepalmed himself and sighed. He heard someone laughing and his head turned towards Biggs who now was wiping his gun.

"If you told me that, that Zack was the same one in the bed just some days ago, I wouldn't have believed you."

"He sure has a lot of energy." Wedge smiled at Zack who continued doing squats.

"You have no idea." Cloud told them.

"I wonder how you managed him when you were in SOLDIERS together." Biggs talked.

"I wasn't with him."

That made Biggs look at him. "You weren't assigned with him?"

Cloud nodded. "Lucky, hmm?"

Biggs laughed as well as Wedge. "You have no idea. And how..."

Cloud sat back at his chair. "We became friends after one time we were assigned to a task together. We survived a helicopter crash and after that, we saw each other in and out of duty."

"What a way to start a friendship. Not like how us, the normal people, start one. Here, look." Biggs smiled and winked at Wedge.

Wedge smiled and gave his hand at Biggs who did a handshake with him.

"Hello, I am Biggs want to become friends."

"Hi, I am Wedge I would like to become friends"

After that, both laughed and Cloud rolled his eyes at them.

"Very funny."

"Well, for a SOLDIER this might be alien to you. I am right?"

Cloud closed and opened his eyes. "Tell me how I met you?"

Bigg's smile fell and he nodded.

"Touché." That made Cloud smirk.

"Why we are doing this again?" Zack shouted at Cloud.

"You are a merc and need to pay back Tifa for destroying her PHS."

Zack opened his mouth and nodded. "Right. I need money. _Damn._ "

"This is a patrol, Zack. It is boring but an easy job. Either way, you are protecting people by watching the area around them."

"I know, I know. But I want some action."

"I will show you some action after we are done with this job." Cloud murmured and Biggs and Wedge giggled at it.

"You will show him a lesson?" Biggs said as he stood up and showed with his head Cloud's sword.

"I am that close to show it to him now." Cloud said irritated.

Biggs grinned and walked outside. He went near Zack and they started to talk. Cloud smiled. Finally, some peace and quiet. Too quiet actually. He turned and examined Wedge who was now reading a book. He was still petting his cat which now was in his lap sleeping. After a while, Wedge talked.

"You will not like this book." 

Cloud looked at him. "How so?"

"Well, it isn't a normal book actually. This one has legends on it."

"Legends?"

"Yes like the mako monster. The mystery number. The fast mermaid."

"Oh, those legends."

Wedge put down his book and watched him. "You know them?"

"Yes. We also had one. The red vampire."

"Who that one goes?" Wede asked clearly intrigued by the story.

"Well, where I was living there was a large mansion that Shinra was using. There in the basement, there was a coffin. Alone. So when sometimes people went inside to clear the rooms they could hear snoring coming from it. Or shouting. Even some said that there was a red person inside of it with sharp teeth ready to devour everyone."

"Hence the red vampire."

"Correct. "

"Ah, man. That one sounds dumb."

"Well, it kept the kids out of the mansion."

"So not a real legend."

"And what you expect? A real one?"

"Well, no. But I feel one is real. That's why I bought this book to learn everything about it."

Before Cloud asked which one was real, Zack yelled.

"I know this shop. It is the accessory man! I didn't know he was still alive. Biggs can you take my spot for a while. I want to ask him to make something for me."

"Sure." Biggs nodded and Zack waved at Cloud and Wedge before he left like the wind.

"He jumped down?" Wedge asked.

"So?"

"Ah....yes this is normal for SOLDIERS. Let me write this down." He said and started writing something in a notebook he had close to him.

Cloud noticed something red on that page. "What is that?"

Wedge eyed the place Cloud showed and smiled.

"Well, this is the legend I was talking about."

"The legend?"

_"The red string of fate."_

Cloud widened at what Wedge said. Wedge smiled at him.

"So you know about this legend. It is quite popular."

"I...I have heard of it before. I don't know many things about it." Cloud said with a quiet voice.

He actually knew more with Sephiroth's help. He shook his head trying to silence the memories that tried to refresh from his mind and heard Wedge talking.

"Well, I can te..."

"Yes, I would like that."

Wedge was taken back from Cloud but his smile doubled its size.

"Eager aren't we? Well, I don't blame you. This legend is said to exist on every person. Yet the color changes in every duo. Others are red, others blue, others black. The color actually shows what the people are to each other. For example, blue friends, black enemies and red lovers. Everyone has at least one on them. The string is on the pickies of every person and you can stretch and tangle it as many times as you want because it will never break."

"Never?" Cloud asked surprised.

"No, never. As many times you try to cut it or break it, the string stays put in every person."

_That's weird,_ Cloud thought while Wedge's face showed that he was thinking.

"Well, that's from the string of fate at least. They are more kinds."

Cloud stared at him. "More?"

"Yes. There is the string of memories, the string of actions, string of aces, string of..."

"String of living?"

Wedge stopped talking and watched with horror at Cloud as he started talking.

"How you know about that?"

"It was...I have heard it before."

"Well, um. That type of strings is dangerous. Not like the others."

Cloud eyes showed concern "Strings?"

Wedge nodded. "They are two types of that strings. The string of living and string of leaving. They sound the same and most people change their meanings and tangle them. Well, they sound the same but have different powers. As I said they are dangerous and not like the others since the others don't break."

"And those do?"

"Exactly. Those cause more trouble than any other string. If you have one you are cursed."

Cloud didn't say anything already knowing what Wedge would say. 

"Those also have more colors in the string making them more breakable. If the string has one color you are good. If it has more then you are fucked, that is the rule with strings. If you have one of them their colors are usually red, white, black. Red showing the neutral side, white the good side and black the bad side. I believe in the string of living one of them dies and the other lives. While the string of leaving is the one that one of them moves forward and the other is stuck on the past. As I said those are cursed strings and if you have one you are done."

"Do you know how they are created?"

"I don't know how. That kind of strings appear out of nowhere. They rumored to appear when both parties were cursed."

"Cursed?"

"Yes. Unlike the other strings that show the destiny, that strings play with it. They are uncontrollable and change easily with each action the party does. The general rule is that the more white you have then you are the one who survives. So when the string breaks then the one with more black will die."

"Can you stop them for breaking?"

"No. They break eventually and without warning."

Cloud watched Wedge. So, both he and Zack were cursed. One of them would eventually fall and be Sephiroth's puppet. He gritted his teeth and watched his wrist. _This was unfair._ Who cursed them? Why they did it? And why them? So many questions without answers. Cloud wanted to go back in simpler times. Back to Shinra. He sighed.

There was only one solution. 

This was too much for them both. One would fall while the other watched unable to help. Both of them had suffered so much and yet that curse, that fucking string would end them both. One mentally, other psychically.

"They are also rumors of people knowing that they had that string, unlike the others."

"You mean the string of living?"

Wedge nodded. "The string of fate shows the destiny of a person. It is said that you are not allowed to see your destiny and only a few see them because they need to. But the strings of living which play together with destiny you can sense them."

" _Really?_ And how you know that?"

"Well, do you remember something flying around here?"

Cloud looked at Wedge while trying to remember what he meant.

"You mean the hooded silhouettes in the sky?"

Wedge gave a thumps up. "Bingo. I am not sure what I am going to say is true so this is a theory but the book mentions them so... Those are creatures that control the destiny. If they alter it or make it have a steady road is unknown to me. But those appear when they sense that something is changing from its course. Ah, like the night that the plate would fall on us, they were here."

Cloud raised his eyebrow and Wedge nodded.

"I am serious. But this time they did nothing like the other time they hit Jessie."

"Do you think something changed?"

"Perhaps. Why would they be here?"

"Ok. But how those connect with the ones that have the string of living?" Cloud asked while walking outside.

Right now it was his shift so he moved out as he saw Bigg walking and sitting in his chair. Wedge had followed outside continuing the conversation.

"The figures only appear when they sense that destiny changes. And only one string can change its destiny."

"So you think that someone here has one of the cursed strings? That's why you bought that book?"

"Well, I wasn't that out if you also, the great EX-SOLDIER, asks suddenly for the string of living."

Cloud looked dumbfounded at Wedge and resumed his watch.

"I guess you are right?"

"So?"

"So what?"

"Do you know who has it?"

Cloud got chills in that question but answered as he watched his wrist again.

"I...I have a hunch."

Wedge clapped and celebrated. "Yes, I knew I was right. Don't tell me who it is. It will cause more problems for them. I really pity them. I wished I could help."

Cloud nodded and sighed. 

"Help what?" Someone said and both Wedge and Cloud looked at the stairs.

There was Barret who started to come closer.

"Um..." Wedge started.

"For an EX-SOLDIER boy, I thought that you wouldn't talk about the supernatural."

"And how you know that?"

"Heh, Wedge here is an expert on myths. So it is natural to assume you were talking about that."

"And what about it?" Cloud asked and crossed his hands in front of his chest.

"Nothing. It's weird that's all."

"It is interesting!" Wedge said and Barret nodded.

"Hell yeah, it is. I believe we change our future, our destiny for the better."

"But I think that also a string here plays a part." Wedge started and Barret shook his hand.

"Ah again with the fucking strings. You had said that even though the string plays with fate, the string already knows who will fall."

_"...What?_ " Cloud asked them and Barret smirked.

"Oh, what. Intrigued aren't we SOLDIER?"

"EX-SOLDIER."

"Yeah, whatever."

"Ah, Cloud I had forgotten about that. Well, as Barret said the string knows who will die."

"And why it plays with destiny if the destiny of the duo is already dedicated?"

"Well, what it does actually is slowing the time of the fallen."

"So it is a clock that the party adds more minutes on it?"

"Yes. If you go against the time of the fallen it means you are going against destiny."

"A bomb that you add more time until it explodes." Barret continued as Cloud looked away pretending that he was continuing his watch.

So, their destiny was already set. And Cloud couldn't do anything to change it but add more time. He wanted to hit something. He wanted to cry. He couldn't even decide what he wanted to do. It was already decided for him.

But Sephiroth had asked him to choose. Had asked to choose their fate. He shook his head. He didn't know what to believe. 

"And what you mean help?" Barret asked Wedge undisturbed.

"To help the one with that string!"

"You want to help a _done_ business?"

"Why not?"

"You had said you can't."

"I know but...it is cruel for them. To be cursed."

"Well, you can find them at least. Or I think so..."

"Really? How?" Wedge asked intrigued and Cloud turned his head to them.

"Well, you had said that the black silhouettes appear when destiny leaves its course, right? So if someone that has that string is meant to die, wouldn't they try to kill them?"

Wedge didn't answer. After a while, he facepalmed himself. Cloud on the other hand looked at nothing in particular as he thought what Barret had said. He was right. So, Cloud would know who was the one that would... fall with the help of the black silhouettes.

"Well, I am dumb. That's the answer thanks, Barret!" Wedge said after a while with more excitement than before.

"No problem kiddo."

"Hey, why are you here either way? Weren't you in a meeting with the other Avalanche teams." Biggs asked.

Barret turned at him and said. "Exactly. I was. We have an agreement so I will tell you more about it in our hideout. I actually came here to give a report."

"A report?" Wedge asked.

Barret nodded and smirked at Wedge. "It is destiny indeed."

"What?" Wedge asked but Barret stopped him.

"Just now we were talking about the black silhouettes and my report is that some of them had appeared in one of the factories."

"Really? Are you kidding?" Wedge asked and when Barret nodded, he jumped with excitement.

"Then what we are waiting for. Let's go!" 

Wedge started running but Barret caught him from his shirt and stopped him.

"Ah, we're you going? Did I tell you where they are? And even if I tell you you are on hold after the accident." Barret told Wedge who shouted.

"Ah, man! Come on Barret! Let me go."

"Not this time kiddo. You are out. You will find the string another time. Yo, SOLDIER boy, you are up!"

"Yeah, yeah." Cloud said emotionless.

"They had appeared in the western site inside the building."

"West?" Biggs asked Barret who looked at him.

"Yeah? Is there a problem?" Barret asked and Biggs answered.

"Zack went in the west."

Cloud's eyes widened. **_Oh no!_ **

"Zack." Cloud said with a hint of worry in his voice and started to move to the stair only to stop dead on.

Zack was climbing them with a huge grin in his face and when he noticed that everyone was watching him, his grin fell. He put his hand behind his head.

"Um, did I do something wrong?"

" _Zack!_ " " _Zack!_ " "Hedgehog."

Cloud had moved closer to him. "Zack, where were you?"

Zack was taken back from the tone of Cloud's voice but answer. "I was at the accessory man and came back. Did something happen?"

Cloud sighed and shook his head smiling to himself.

"He had a report of some black silhouettes on the west."

Zack's eyes changed as he understood what had happened and opened his mouth. "Oh!"

Cloud pushed him at the stairs. "Nevermind that we have work to do. So let's go."

Zack turned and faced Cloud with a new more living smile in his face. "For real? I will use my sword?"

Cloud smile at the new excitement Zack showed and his childish behavior but nodded. Zack's eyes shined and jumped with excitement while he rushed down the stairs.

"Finally I can activate my combat mode!"

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"This is disappointing."

"You are all complaining."

"Well, they didn't even put a fight!" Zack screamed at the sky.

When Zack and Cloud arrived in the factory, they were indeed some black silhouettes flying around. But they didn't do anything but just flying. When Zack pulled his sword out ready to fight them they flew off and disappeared in thin air. And then some monsters appeared out of nowhere. But those were a piece of cake for both Zack and Cloud. Cloud didn't complain finally fighting alongside Zack but Zack wanted a more difficult fight. He was enjoying himself sure, but his movements after a while became sloppier and didn't bother moving so much as before.

Cloud was about to shout at Zack to focus but seeing Zack destroying three monsters at the same time without even paying attention make Cloud gulped and happy to have him by his side. And perhaps a little flushed. He had shaken his head and tried to focus in the monsters yet his head turned around on its own admiring Zack. He even caught himself smiling like an idiot. Cloud shook his head and with a touch of one of his thunder materia, he destroyed the remaining monsters and the battle was over.

Cloud watched Zack moving around collecting the fallen goods the monsters had and hearing him mumble under his breath. He was not happy. He wanted more. Being a SOLDIER was always living in a rush and combat. Not sitting around as Cloud heard him murmur. Cloud chuckled under his breath with Zack's childish behavior. Still, Zack was right in one thing. Those monsters were weak. Far too weak that the average monster here. Were those immature? Young?

"At least we did something different." Zack said.

Cloud sighed aloud making Zack looked at him angrily. "Well, this is what we do. We have a job we do the job. Even if that job is annoying or boring."

Zack closed his eyes and screamed at the sky again. He then proceeded to poke the monsters. Cloud watched unamused and sighed again looking for anything missing. When he found nothing he started walking to exit.

"Well since we cleared the area, we don't have any business here."

Zack had moved closer to him. "I guess you are right." He smiled and put his arm around Cloud's shoulder. "At least we were together and I saw you in combat with your sword. Nice moves, spike." 

He then moved to pet Cloud's hair. Cloud smiled at the action ready to ask Zack to stop when he saw a bag in front of him. Zack smiled at him and shook the bag again. Cloud moved his gaze between the bag and Zack and then he asked.

"Did one of the monsters drop that?"

Zack's mouth turned into a straight line when he started laughing. "Man, you are stupid! I love that! Hahaha." He laughed making Cloud blushed.

Zack then moved the bag closer to Cloud who looked at it.

"This is for you." Zack made Cloud hold the bag.

"For....me?" 

Zack put his hands behind his head. "Well, I wanted to make you a gift and since I saw the accessory man why not made him created something for me."

Cloud watched him dumbfounded. "You...didn't..."

Zack squeezed his shoulder. "Nonsense! Open the damn bag! You are killing me here man! Open it!" Zack jumped with excitement waiting for Cloud's reaction on the gift.

Cloud decided to stop complaining and made a node to get something for Zack while he opened the bag. And inside he found.... a bracelet. It was created with black leather and it had tones of blue shining with the sun. But what caught his eye was the emblem in the middle of the bracelet. There was a silver wolf than shined with pride and had a huge ring in his nose. He stroked it with his hand enjoying the touch and the cool medal that the emblem was made of.

Cloud felt Zack hovering over Cloud's shoulder.

"Well? Do you like it? I made it specifically for you!"

Cloud brushed his hand over the emblem again and a big smile had appeared in his face unknown to him. He nodded feeling overwhelmed with the action that Zack had made for him and with the emblem which was like talking to him. Like it belonged to him. He squeezed the bracelet to his chest and nodded again at Zack.

"I...I love it, Zack. Thank...you." Cloud whispered and Zack squeezed Cloud's shoulder understanding his emotions.

Zack smiled and hugged Cloud. "I am glad. Do you want help to wear it?" 

Cloud nodded and Zack put the bracelet on Cloud's wrist. Cloud moved it around trying to see if it was loose or not and moved it up admiring it. _It was amazing_. He looked at Zack who was also watching the bracelet.

"The material of the bracelet is smooth and it will not hurt your skin but strong enough to withhold slashes being done on it. Also in the ring, you can put any materia of your choice but only one. It suits you really well I am impressed. "

"Thanks, Zack. A lot."

Zack shook his head and put his hands on his hips. "If you like it, I like it too. And it helps..." Zack whispered the last part but Cloud heard it loud and clear.

"Helps?" Cloud asked and Zack nodded and stopped moving for a while.

He then said. "Seeing something new on you, even something small is...helping. And that means that I will not need to do this..." Zack moved his hand and brushed Cloud's hair. "...that often."

Cloud understood what Zack meant and smiled. "I don't mind you doing that. And also knowing that it helps you make me more eager to wear it everywhere than before. It...also...helps me. Feeling it around my wrist than the..." When Cloud didn't continue, Zack moved his head giving Cloud a sign to do so.

Cloud smiled at him. "Knowing that that wolf emblem is a custom design for a well-known SOLDIER and my favorite hero is surreal to me."

Zack opened his mouth in surprise and laughed. Cloud did too. Zack fist-bumped Cloud's shoulder resulting at Cloud doing the same. Zack laughed even louder making Cloud snort.

"Well, if it is a reminder, a sign to both of us then it is the best gift I have given to someone. Apart from myself, of course! Ouch!" Zack started to praising himself unknown that a kick hit him in the legs.

"Cheater." Zack shouted at Cloud who smirked at him. "So, shall we, wolfie?" Zack walked toward the exit.

Cloud rolled his eyes in the new nickname Zack had given him and moved towards him when he stopped. He had forgotten to write something!

"Ah, shit. I need to write a report."

Zack turned at him. "Here?"

Cloud nodded. "In all the Slums, the rules are that you write a report after every encounter with monsters and leave it there and take a copy with you. So when someone comes here they will know what had happened here and be cautious in their next steps."

Zack nodded. "That's why I saw so many papers shutter around."

Cloud nodded back. "Yes, unfortunately. Well, you like to do to the honors?" 

Zack shook his head. "I am...."

"Bad in writing reports. Yes, I am aware. I have read some of them and was ready to pluck my eyes out."

"Hey, they weren't so bad... And either way, it is more boring than having a watch so I will leave you to do it. So I will see you in the hideout. Don't do anything stupid!"

Cloud rolled his eyes. "A wise option and I won't. In your place, I would be careful. See you later."

Zack laughed and started leaving. But returned back and shouted at Cloud.

"Ah Cloud, um. Inside the bag, there is also one of the materias that was in your collar. I have the other two since I thought why throwing them when they are good. But the third I gave it back to you since it was a decorative materia and all."

That made Cloud look suspicious at Zack. "Decorative?"

"Yes! And I think it suits you for a sweet Chocobo like you! See ya, be careful!" Zack shouted and then Cloud was alone.

Cloud watched the bag that he was still holding in his hands. What did Zack mean with decorative materia? Yes, he had seen many materia that didn't have any power and they were usually put on display for their uniqueness and colors. But as he remembered all the materias in his collar were normal kinds. A Heal, Thunder and Time one. Even Madam M had said the same when she saw it. So what did Zack meant with decorative?

He put his hand inside the bag and pulled out the materia. Then his eyes widened at the materia. It was the Time materia as he felt by the touch but it had turned yellow and inside it was a...feather. A black feather. Then Cloud felt it. 

_Sephiroth._

Sephiroth had touched one of the materias in his collar making Cloud feel something strange. Not the familiar rush of mako of any materia but something that felt like...holding his soul. Suddenly the feather moved inside the materia causing Cloud to moved back by surprise hitting the wall. But....

He wasn't near any walls. A breath touched his cheek surprising him but he didn't move from his place.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Someone said near his ear.

Cloud knew who that was. Sephiroth. He slowly turned his head at him who was smirking. But his eyes were focused on the materia that Cloud was holding.

"Did you curse us?" Cloud asked making Sephiroth focus on him.

Sephiroth smirked again and he disappeared from Cloud's sight. Cloud blinked and suddenly Sephiroth was in front of him, looking down at him.

"I don't engage with human's pity actions."

Cloud gritted his teeth but didn't say anything. Sephiroth eyes then moved at Cloud's wrist.

"...Coincidence..." He whispered.

"What?"

"I really like your bracelet puppet. How about putting this materia in it?"

Cloud hissed at him. "And why should I believe you when everything I hear is lies."

Sephiroth's eyebrow moved up and he said amused. "Oh, what you heard earlier you mean? I must agree that what the boy said is true."

Cloud put his hand on his sword. "So you are lying!"

Sephiroth looked down disappointed. With a swift motion, he had come closer to Cloud and held with one of his hand Cloud's hand that had moved to the sword. Cloud gasped at the strength Sephiroth put in his grasp but otherwise didn't say anything. 

"Tsk, tsk Cloud. I had said this but I will let it slip. Your case, your string of living with Zack is unique. Your string hasn't decided your destiny, the fallen. But..."

"The time limit." Cloud whispered to himself. 

Sephiroth nodded smirking at Cloud. "Precisely. As I have said puppet you are the one who decides who falls and who doesn't. You control your fate but you have a time limit so you must act fast."

Cloud hissed at him and managed to get out of his grasp. He then threw the materia he was holding at Sephiroth. Sephiroth caught it without a problem.

"Be careful of what you are doing puppet. Because this thing I am holding is a support to you."

"Supports you, you mean!" He shouted at Sephiroth who grimaced slightly.

His face turned serious and Cloud fell in his knees. The white noise had returned making him nauseous. 

"Be careful of what you are saying Cloud. Don't make me mad."

Cloud felt himself being lifted and thrown to the wall. The headache had disappeared and when Cloud had stood up Sephiroth was on him putting the materia on his bracelet. Cloud put his hand on it trying to pull it out when something made him lose his balance. His hand was still on the materia and after that intense feeling, he felt himself breathe and saw that the light of the materia was reduced.

"What..."

"This is a gift from me to you, Cloud. Did you feel something familiar?"

Cloud looked at Sephiroth and then at the materia. "When I...I felt the string..."

"Bravo. This materia helps you with your little problem. What it does is random and that you will find it yourself. But right now it made the Whispers leave Zack alone."

"Whispers? Zack?"

Sephiroth nodded. "The black silhouettes in the sky are called Whispers. And it appears that some were after Zack. But when you touched your little materia there, it made them disappear. A change in your fate has been made."

Cloud shallowed. "Why?"

Sephiroth smirked at him. "A help for a help." He pinned Cloud at the wall and whispered at his ear. "You can use that materia only once per day. Don't overdo it."

Sephiroth's wing then appeared and he flew up.

" _I will not lose to you, Sephiroth!_ " Cloud managed to say without losing tempo and Sephiroth eyed him entertained and with a sign of nostalgia.

_"Then show me what you got!"_ He shouted and then disappeared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Wolf Emblem on Cloud's bracelet is indeed the emblem Cloud wears in AC. I really like it and well...here this emblem plays a big role! So here he had an explanation of what had happen and Zack and Cloud bonding.  
> But I wonder will something happen between them?
> 
> Oh, I wonder!
> 
> See you later!!!!


	7. Unpleasant Outcomes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello guys!!! This chapter took me some time to make since the first scene made it difficult for me to write! But I managed!!!  
> I like how the rest turned out! 
> 
> So what do you think thus far? Any ideas of what is happening?   
> Anyway, I believe that you will be suprised with this chapter!
> 
> So....have fun!!!

"This one is by far my favorite flower." Tifa said as she was kneeling and touched the flower she meant.

Aerith was near her and watched as Tifa picked one of them and smelled it. She smiled.

"I liked one too." 

Tifa turned her gaze at her and tilted her head. "Really? Which one?"

Aerith's smile became longer. "I am watching it right now."

Tifa looked around to pinpoint which flower Aerith meant. Aerith closed her eyes and sighed. As she walked towards Tifa, she took one of the flowers from her garden and gave it to Tifa. Tifa smiled and held it.

"A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady." Aerith smiled and Tifa reddened.

"Thank you." 

"Let me help you put it in your uniform." Aerith said and took back the flower and instead put it in Tifa's ear. "Actually, here is better. It shows your pretty face."

Tifa laughed at that and played with her hair. "You think so?"

Aerith gasped. "Of course I do. You are the most beautiful girl I have seen in my life."

Tifa stood up and beamed at Aerith. "Not like you. You are really beautiful too."

Aerith flushed at that and also played with her hair. Tifa continued as she started walking around Aerith's garden.

"Also, Jessie and Marlene. Maybe Cloud and Zack. Everyone is actually." 

"...oh." Aerith said disappointed but her eyes shined. "In my eyes, only one is gorgeous though."

Tifa looked at her. "Really? Who?"

"I don't know. How are you, gorgeous?" Aerith half closed her eyes with a smirk in her face.

"I don't know. Fine I guess." Tifa said while behind her Aerith held her face with her hands, exhausted.

"...good." She facepalmed her face. "Sometimes it is stupid..." Aerith looked at Tifa walking away and she smirked. "...and sometimes it is hot as fuck."

"Hot?" Tifa asked.

"Um...ah... the day. Yes! The day. The day is hot as fuck." Aerith stuttered and blushed even more.

Tifa nodded. "Yes. True. Today is hot. Really hot."

Aerith smirked following this time Tifa. "Yeah... really hot."

Tifa turned and looked back at Aerith. "What are you looking at?"

Aerith responded "Sorry your legs look good in those leggings. "

Tifa continued walking and chimed. "You should see me without them."

"Why would you take off your legs?"

That made Tifa laughed and Aerith to flush even more at her dumb response while thinking she had lost another opportunity. And she wondered who was stupid. Tifa, who didn't understand flirting or her. Well, Tifa clearly didn't understand what Aerith did but her words sometimes gave Aerith opportunities. And she had missed  _ every single one! _ When would Tifa understand? Aerith had used every single one of her lines and she was out.

Meanwhile, Zack and Cloud were sitting outside of Aerith's house watching the girls chat. He smiled to himself. Today it was a day off for all of them since in the afternoon they would have a mission to accomplish. Today Avalanche groups had launched a bomb attack mission on one of the Sectors and they had given Barret's team the bomb. They would leave the bomb and fired them as instructed. Cloud had his thoughts.

President Shinra knew who put the previous bombs and had told them what he had done. So why continue? Barret had said that if we didn't at least stop some of the mako pumps that took the mako out of the planet then those previous bombings were for nothing. They only needed to stop the suction part of the factory not destroy it. Cloud still had doubts. He touched his bracelet.

Cloud hadn't taken off his bracelet since the day he got it. Not only because it was a gift from Zack but also because of the materia on it. Sephiroth had explained its importance and that also gave Cloud a help on his string problem. Which Cloud agreed. Several days had passed and indeed every day he tested the power of the materia. Its powers every day changed showing Cloud that the materia was uncontrollable. Sometimes it stopped the Whispers coming close to Zack or Cloud or cured Zack from his latest mako poisoning. Other times when Cloud hadn't used it at all he touched it on the night when they were on their beds and the materia showed the string between Cloud and Zack giving him an insight of what was happening. The last time he saw it the black parts had left Zack but they were still on it close to the middle. 

Every time he used it he could feel a rush of mako in his body. Cloud always felt the rush of the Time materia when he touched but could feel slightly pain in his body when he used it. Also, the time around him stopped as expected from a Time materia but when time resumed he felt extreme pain in his wrist as well as on his chest. It was a heavy materia to handle that's why its use was only once a day. But having it, feeling it was something that Cloud needed to have on him. Giving him something to hold on and helping him when he needed it. 

Cloud looked at Zack who was now smiling at the girls. Cloud smiled too. That bracelet also helped Zack. He had seen Zack looking at it. And every time his smile grew larger after seeing it earning Cloud a good rub on his hair. He didn't complain. Still, the bracelet's materia showed also the other side of the coin. It was a curse and a wish. Cloud stared at his bracelet and brushed once again the wolf on it. 

"She doesn't stop."

Cloud moved his gaze up and scanned Zack. "Pardon?"

Zack smiled. "Well, wolfie, I was saying that Aerith still is trying to reach Homebase but she loses every time."

Cloud turned his gaze at the girls. Aerith's face was disappointed and seeing that her hand was on it, he could tell that she hadn't made progress. Still, her eyes were sparkling showing that she hadn't lost hope yet. Cloud nodded.

"She doesn't lose hope. One day she will make it."

Zack nodded. "I would help her but this would not be fun."

"You are a tease." Cloud said and he earned a laugh from Zack.

"Oh really, wolfie. Then go help her."

Cloud stared at the girls. "Well.... why should I?"

Zack smiled. "So who is the tease here!"

Cloud hit Zack on the shoulder. "I am not! I don't how to help her."

Zack brushed the area Cloud hit him. "Oh really? Come on. You are good at this as I remember."

Cloud shook his head. "How I am? You were the one that the girls followed!"

Zack smirked. "Oh really? Then why so many ladies are asking for the pretty  _ merc? _ "

"Oh, they are asking for you.  _ The pretty merc! _ " Cloud smiled and Zack blushed at that.

"Oh, really!... _ Stop! _ "

"I am not lying!"

Zack pushed Cloud lightly on the chest but Cloud held his ground. "You are! _ Stop it! _ "

Cloud also pushed Zack. "Oh? What is it  _ pretty _ merc? Too much fame?"

"Nah. Having only one fanboy is enough!"

"Fanboy?"

"You silly! Aren't  _ I _ your hero?" Zack smiled and stroked Cloud's hair who started to push the hand away, falling.

"For a pretty merc like you, this is a pretty pathetic excuse!" Cloud laughed and Zack kicked Cloud.

"Ah, Zack! I mean... my hero! That hurt!"

Zack giggled and did it again. 

" _ Zack _ , I am warning you!"

Zack did it again. "What is it wolfie? All bark no bite? Hahaha.... ** ah ** ."

He started saying when Cloud moved Zack away and took his head in a headlock. Zack didn't respond immediately but started to move his head trying to escape. Cloud didn't let him and started moving Zack's hair around. Then Zack managed to touch Cloud's sides and Cloud jerked away laughing. Zack moved and held Cloud's arms moving them by his sides. Cloud smiled at Zack knowing that Zack had immobilized him. He saw Zack's hair and laughed.

"What?"

"Your hair." Cloud managed to say and laughed again at the mess he had done.

" _ Ha _ . Very funny. Let me try yours!" Zack said and moved one of his hands up towards Cloud hair.

Cloud moved his free hand on Zack's chest and tried to push him even though he knew he couldn't.

"How about a proposition?"

Zack smiled at that. " _ Too late _ ,  _ wolfie! _ I am not buying your barks!" He said and with a swift motion started to moved Cloud's hair around.

So Cloud did the same with his free hand. That made Zack come closer since he didn't feel something pushing him. Cloud moved his hand at the same rhythm as Zack's hand. Both laughed at the silliness yet didn't stop. Then after a while, both stopped and looked at each other. They looked like a disaster had struck them both. They smiled at that and Cloud could feel Zack's breath so close to him. So close that they could kis....

" _ Did  _ I lose something?" Aerith's voice made both of them jerked away from each other. 

_ Was her tone slightly teasing? _

Zack turned back at Aerith and he poorly combed his hair to their original place. Meanwhile, Cloud's face had reddened and tried to hide it by looking away from Aerith and mimicking Zack's actions. 

"Look what he did! Now I will lose my charm!"

Aerith half closed her eyes and put her arms behind her back. 

"What charm? I don't remember you having one!" Aerith teased and Zack pouted at that.

"Why everyone is teasing me today?  _ What did I do to deserve this? _ " 

Aerith moved closer to him and eyed Cloud.  _ Did she just smirk at him? _ She put one of her fingers on Zack's chest.

" _ By being an idiot! _ "

"Come on Aeris! This is not funny!" Zack said but smirked at her.

"Come on Aerith. Live Zack alone. " Tifa begged Aerith as she had moved behind her.

Aerith turned around at Tifa and clapped her hands. "For a pretty girl, I will do anything."

Tifa smiled at Aerith and walked towards Cloud. Zack slightly bent near Aerith's shoulder and whispered.

"But your not so obvious flirting was hilarious." He started laughing but an elbow in his stomach made him stop.

Tifa stood near Cloud watching as Zack and Aerith talked to each other. Or rather teased each other.

"They are...really close to each other." She started and Cloud observed her.

"I guess..."

"I wonder if we were that close." She said and looked down at her feet.

"We weren't." Cloud said and Tifa glanced at him, sad. But Cloud continued. "But we are now. Or I think so."

Tifa stared Cloud with shock but after a while, she grinned. "You... you are right.  _ We are! _ And I am glad for that." 

That made Cloud smile at her. 

Tifa nodded. "I will go help Elmyra. She probably needs help."

Cloud nodded. Tifa started to move when Zack called her.

"Tifa! I am coming with you! I can't handle two devils on my own!"

That made Tifa smile and gave Zack two slaps in the neck each one from Cloud and Aerith. As they went inside Aerith's house, Cloud heard Tifa saying to Zack that he will get used to it. To which Zack nodded. With that Aerith moved her hand at Cloud showing him that she wanted him to follow her. So, he did and they went to the highest area of Aerith's garden. Where Cloud had seen Aerith talking to the flowers. There she stopped and kneeled at the ground. Cloud followed suit and helped Aerith clean her flowers.

"I will let you know that I will accompany you in the mission."

Cloud stopped what he was doing and eyed Aerith who was smiling at him. "I..."

"You can't stop me. Either way, you need a healer near you idiots all the time so I will come with you."

Cloud stared at her. "It will be dangerous but you know that. It is not something we had done before. It is an official mission..."

"I have already gotten permission from Barret."

Cloud stopped talking and after a while, he sighed and continued his work. "Whatever I say will not matter. Still, I think it is dangerous and we can't drag you with us."

Cloud heard Aerith's sigh. "This mission is more crucial to me than you."

"How so?" 

Aerith looked away and Cloud understood that she was hiding something from him. When she didn't answer, he let a sigh of his own.

"You can tell me anything Aerith. But if you can't do it now, then I will wait for you."

He felt Aerith touching his arm. He looked up at her and Aerith was smiling at him.

"I know... You have said so much to me. You had told me your story so it is fair to say mine that at least....but... the words don't come out."

Cloud held her hand. "I will wait. We will wait."

But Aerith shook her head. "No! That's not what I need. I want to tell you! Perhaps a persuasion to say what I want?"

Cloud tilted his head confused. "I don't understand?"

Aerith closed her eyes trying to figure how to say what she wanted. Then her eyes opened and drifted towards Cloud's bracelet. Then an idea hit her. She clapped her hands with a newfound energy and smiled at Cloud.

"Yes! That's what I need. A persuasion! If you tell me what I need to hear, I will explain what I mean to you. It would be easier for me to speak then."

Cloud touched his bracelet. " _ Ok? _ "

Aerith nodded and smirked. "What was that back there,  **_ hmm? _ ** "

Cloud stared puzzled at Aerith. "What do you mean?"

"Oh come on! What was that with Zack?"

That made Cloud reddened a little but still didn't understand what Aerith meant. "You mean the attack I did? It was a joke."

Aerith's eyes shined and her smirk doubled. "Oh.... _ oh! _ Hahaha!" She laughed making Cloud even more confused.

"Aerith? I don't follow."

"And Zack tells me that Tifa is oblivious to my flirting." She said laughing.

Cloud agreed. "Because your flirting is a joke."

That made Aerith stop laughing. "Wait! Is it that obvious?"

Cloud nodded again, smirking. "Since day one."

" **_ Shit! _ ** So everyone knows what I feel. _ Damn! _ " She facepalmed herself.

Cloud smirked. "Everyone except one!"

Aerith slapped Cloud's shoulder. "Don't be a jerk! Either way, you have one too?"

That made Cloud's eyes widened. "Really, who?"

Aerith stopped talking and after a while smirked. "You are both idiots!"

"Who? Me and Zack?"

"Obvious!"

Cloud didn't say anything and stared dumbfounded at Aerith. 

"Come on! Both of you have something playing on! I have seen how you look at him."

" _ So? _ And what do you mean  _ something _ is playing on? Nothing is happening between us!"

Aerith laughed even louder. "You are an idiot. You are saying that in front of me and yet you deny the flush in your face. Something  **_ IS _ ** happening!"

That made Cloud look away to hide his face from embarrassment.

"Or something is happening and you both haven't realized that yet! I know Zack will need some time. But I wonder when you will!"

Aerith said and stood up. She started to walk towards her house when Cloud shouted at her.

"Aerith! Didn't you say that you will explain to me what you meant with crucial?"

Aerith turned around facing Cloud who had followed her. She bent slightly towards Cloud and with her arms behind her back, she smirked and said.

"Not until I hear that specific three words from your mouth!"

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"Shouldn't we be more careful?"

"Since when you are the one that cares about being careful." Aerith said and Zack grimaced.

"I am. It is that now we are in an important mission and well someone can recognize us."

Tifa nodded but answered. "You are right but our faces have been hidden and the air buster fight was never aired on TV. They only mentioned it."

Zack nodded at her but gestured with his hands Cloud and him. "Ok. But isn't it hard to hide two people with huge swords walking around?"

Aerith smiled at him. "That's true but we are above the plate so here you are recognized as SOLDIERS. And your attire shows that you are truly one. Plus the eyes."

Zack watched her walk beside him and after a while, he asked. "How about Barret?"

"I am wearing a coat for that obvious reason you dumbass Hedgehog!" Barret said and Jessie laughed.

Zack turned his head back and opened his mouth. "Since when did you obtain that coat? You weren't wearing one just minutes ago."

"While you were running around killing monsters and being an idiot I was putting it."

Zack after a while nodded. Then stopped in his tracks making Cloud ran into him.

"Zack..." Cloud started brushing his nose when Zack interrupted him.

"Which plate we will see?" 

"The middle one." Biggs said and continued walking.

"You are hiding something for me." Zack replied after a while and Cloud eyed him.

Wedge turned to look at him while walking backwards. "We are not. We are going to bomb the mako pump..."

"Sector 4 doesn't have one..." Zack announced.

Barret didn't say anything and continue walking among the other people. Tifa grimaced at that as well as Aerith but didn't say anything. Jessie, Biggs and Wedge looked down and walked close to Barret. So Cloud was the one to destroy the silence.

"Sector 4,5..."

"How you know that?" Zack shouted at Cloud but Cloud ignored him and continued.

"Sector 4,5 was supposed to be the middle Sector of Midgar which would have 9 Sectors. But something happened there and it was closed from the public eye and only Shinra could enter. Which they didn't since the radioactivity there was high. Turning everything that walked there a monster. It was the only Sector that didn't have a Slum since the plate collapsed. Everyone goes under it without knowing..."

"And I ask again.  **_ How _ ** _ you know that? _ " Zack asked Cloud who looked curiously at him.

"I just... _ know? _ "

Zack examined him from head to toe. Barret's voice echoed in the now empty streets around them.

"I learned about this place just 2 days ago. But I didn't say anything. Only Shinra knew about this place. Or actually SOLDIERS so I am not surprised that you know about it, SOLDIER boy."

"EX-SOLDIER." Cloud's voice echoed and walked.

Zack eyed again Cloud as he moved forward and tried to understand what was happening. He scratched his head but followed the team. _ Something wasn't right. _ From Cloud's answer and Barret's comment.

"Here we are." Barret said after a while of following Stamps graffiti and now looking at a large wall.

This wall was the end of Sector 4 and was supposedly leading to Sector 5. But over that wall was Sector 4,5. Everyone went under it with the train like it never existed. Barret took his coat off and threw it knowing that from this point on he didn't need it and studied his team.

"Over this wall, we will see the true Sector 4,5. The one that we are not allowed to see. So whatever we do here can't be shown on TV. Only SOLDIERS can enter it. But no one does anymore not because of the radioactivity but because it is lost in history. The radioactivity is down and not active in this area anymore so don't worry about anything. The Sector has a lot of falling debris so be careful where you step. It was supposedly gonna be a normal Sector as the SOLDIER boy said but the plate fell. Even though the huge wall here when we crossed it we will see a fallen Sector. So get ready, and when we are on top of the wall I will tell you more."

Barret handed the guns to his team and after a while, he pushed his own. Then everyone followed suit. On the wall, everyone could see the forgotten Sector. Buildings, roads though recognizable were fallen creating chaos. In the same height of the wall, they could see pumps running above the debris that started from the begging of Midgar to the main building in the center. It was a beautiful sight but also a horrible one since if something like this happened again...

"I know it a sight that can be described with 1000 words and you simply can't stop looking at it but we as Avalanche have a job to do. I will say it again don't be afraid of the radioactivity. There is none. Now at the very start of the Sector as all of the other Sectors, it is our mission. The mako pumps. We will take the bombs there and activate them. When we see the fireworks play out we will move. The other Avalanche teams will create a distraction for us to activate them without a problem. The walk there will be no walk in the park. There are still monsters lurking around..."

"...I doubt it..." Cloud whispered.

Zack eyed Cloud again.  _ Something... _ **_ wasn't _ ** _ right. _

"...and Cloud and Zack will go the other way and bomb the third mako pump. Is that clear?"

When everyone nodded, Barret smiled. "All right.  ** Again. ** See the fireworks then we move to the pumps. Activate the bomb in a safe distance after we see the second line of fireworks and return here."

Everyone nodded and when they saw the fireworks, they jumped and moved.

"This must be the pump." Cloud said.

After a while of searching around the wreck they found the circular tube. This unlike the ones he had bombed was metallic. He put the bomb after he had checked that it was indeed a mako pump and started walking back. He had noticed that Zack had lost his enthusiasm after they had gotten here. Whatever he tried to say or do, Zack didn't answer as excited as before. So Cloud moved trying to do his job and when he was sure that everything was set and ready he would ask Zack what was happening.

They marched back and in the middle of the Sector's layout, Cloud looked up at the lonely tubes that ran above the Sector.  _ What was their purpose? _ They were five in total and were apart from each other. Maybe they were the foundations of the Sector's plate and only those five had remained. His gaze moved back down and turned at the slightly raised road. There was a huge building, hollow inside. It was well built yet only half of it was there. As Cloud walked under it he heard Zack speak.

"I..." He started but didn't say anything more.

He had followed Cloud and now he was standing next to him. Cloud stared at him and he then motioned Zack to continue. Zack eyed him again unsure.

"You are doing this from the moment I spoke back in Sector 4."

Zack looked down at his feet. "I... I am not sure."

"What is it?" Cloud started and Zack turned his back to him.

"Why you doubt the appearance of monsters in here?"

That caught Cloud off guard but he answered. "Just...6 years ago, if I remember correctly, they were killed."

Cloud watched as Zack's hand had turned into a fist. "By... _ whom _ ?"

"...A SOLDIER."

" **_ Who _ ** was it?"

"...Wolf."

Zack turned and stared at Cloud. His eyes were colored with fear and uncertainty. "How... how you know that?"

Cloud watched Zack confused. "Well, Wolf was the second in demand first SOLDIER after..."

Zack shook violently his head. "No.  _ How  _ you know who killed the monsters?"

"I just... _ know? _ "

"No! You can't just know that! This is classified information Cloud!" Zack yelled at him making Cloud backtrack some steps.

"I..."

"And why Barret keeps referring you as a SOLDIER?"

Cloud clutched his bracelet. "Because I...am?"

That made Zack stop moving and then after a while he closed his eyes.

"No...Cloud. You are not a SOLDIER. You never were."

Cloud eyed Zack with disbelief and averted his eyes. "No... _ no! _ It can't be! But I remember...I remember walking here. I remember the monsters roaming around. I remember that the tubes above us were never here."

Zack watched Cloud. "Cloud. I...I don't how you remember this since you never were a SOLDIER but..."

"Did you tell me this?"

"What?" Zack said and saw Cloud moving his eyes on him.

"Did you tell me any of this when I was in a coma?"

"I...I was instructed to never tell anything classified..."

"Then how I remember **_ ALL _ ** this? How do I know this? When no one does?" Cloud shouted at him with a broken voice.

"I don't know Cloud. But we will figure this out..."

"No! I was in SOLDIER otherwise anything else doesn't make sense!"

"Cloud! You were never in SOLDIER! I don't how you walked this area when only SOLDIERS have access and not troopers and how you know about this Sector. Or how Wolf was the one that killed the monsters here but..."

"Wolf was the one that destroyed the then mako pumps by accident! Do you know that?"

"What? **_ No! _ ** Cloud, listen to me! You are telling anything that comes in your head. Your memories are mixed up that's why! I might have told you that by accident or have learned it in...in the lab. Yes, that's it! You must remember..."

Cloud stared at Zack with shocked eyes. " _ Remember? _ ...  ** Memories? ** No,  ** NO! ** " He held his bracelet tighter and closed his eyes. "I don't want to remember, I don't want ** IT! NO! ** "

Zack walked towards him but Cloud told him to stop which he did. Zack held his hands up and spoke.

" _ Cloud! _ You are having a panic attack! You need to calm down. It is ok! We will figure it out. Just look at me!"

Cloud did so and Zack sighed. He looked so afraid, so fragile. Like when he held him when they escaped the lab. He was lost.

"No! You need to listen to me! I was in SOLDIER!  **_ I KNOW THIS IS THE TRUTH! _ ** "

Zack didn't say anything while Cloud screamed at him and let him speak his mind out. When Cloud was in a more stable condition, he spoke.

"No, Cloud. You weren't in SOLDIER, you weren't in a group of troopers. You were nothing...." 

A small earthquake made him stop for a while but he ignored it and continued talking.

"...compared to them. You were in the elite, the  ** TOP ** group of troopers, an alpha trooper. The highest and difficult rank to have for a trooper. So perhaps that's why you knew that stuff, eh, Cloud?" He smiled gently at Cloud.

But Cloud had stopped listening. He had heard enough before the earthquake appeared. He was looking in one of his open palms. He moved it around.

"Nothing, eh? That's true. I am nothing!" He yelled with an eerie voice and moved his palm on his face.

Then he laughed creepily and uncontrollably. He turned and looked at Zack who was petrified in position and didn't know what to do. Cloud's eyes had slightly become green and his eyes had widened. Cloud smiled creepily at him and whispered to himself.

"Compared to you..." He moved his hand down and started running towards Zack. "... _ I am a mere puppet! _ "

And with that, he shoved Zack back.

**_ -ooo- _ **

Zack hit the ground violently but recovered quickly. But as he tried to stand up, another more violent earthquake hit...

** No! ** That wasn't an earthquake!

Zack turned towards the position he was standing before and in it was now...the hollow building!

"CLOUD!" He screamed as loud as he could and ran towards it.

With panic written around his body, he moved around the construction trying to find a way in. They only thing he found was a small window that he could see inside. So he did. There he saw Cloud lying down in his side. Blood was running from his head indicating that his scar had reopened. His hands were in front of him and Zack saw the materia in Cloud's bracelet flashing. The light was going on and off and the mako, as well as the feather in it, run around. Zack breathed out happily knowing that Cloud was ok. 

_ For now! _

Now the hard part was for him to find a way to pull him out. But everything was off access for him. The only way to pull him out was to destroy the building. But that raised another problem. What if the structure collapsed on Cloud while he broke it. He didn't know how long that building was here. Zack sighed loudly. He needed to think of something. 

But suddenly, his instincts kicked in and he jumped away from the structure. There where he was standing a ray of electricity appeared and disappeared almost instantly. Zack held his sword and looked up at the raised road. There he saw two silhouettes looking down on him. He was ready to talk to them when he noticed something. Red hair.

"Reno?" Zack asked 

One of the silhouettes jumped down and looked at him. Reno's eyes widened when he understood who that person in front of him was. 

"...Zack? Is that truly you?"

Zack nodded at him and Reno put his staff on his shoulder.

"I can't believe it, man!  _ You are alive. _ I thought you kicked the bucket. Or I thought so after the fight I heard you had."

"Yep! I am alive. Still kicking." He smiled and then his face turned serious. "What are you doing here?"

Reno smiled. "Oh, so serious. I am scared. Why should I say what I am doing here? I must ask why  ** YOU ** are here?"

"I am allowed to come here. You on the other hand are not. Or your friend up there. Rude, right?"

Rude came closer to the edge of the road and nodded without saying anything. Reno laughed at Zack.

"We are allowed to come here. After the fiasco that happened in Nibelheim, not many SOLDIERS came here to check the area. So this is our turf now. So..."

Rude's voice echoed from above. "This is an off-limit area."

Zack turned and gazed at him making some steps back towards the building. "I am allowed to come here as I said..."

Reno smirked at him and moved his staff around making some sparks come out of it. "That's true. But the person behind you is not. As well as your other teams."

Zack didn't move from his place and brought his sword out facing Reno. "Then tell me why two Turks tackled one person?"

Reno's eyes shined. "Oh! Your mind is still working. Nice!"

"The person behind you is dangerous and a threat to Shinra." Rude shouted.

Zack looked at them with disbelief. "Cloud? A threat? I would believe that Avalanche is a threat to the organization not a single person."

"Negative..."

"As my partner said,  _ your _ Cloud is dangerous. He has classified information and can use it whenever he likes to. So, our orders are simple! Take him hostage."

Zack turned at him. "Take him hostage?"

Rude pushed his glasses back. "...dead or alive."

Zack moved back closer to the building. "...so the earthquake was you..."

Reno tilted his head. "Oh, you understood that. Bravo! We wanted to trap him and take him with us. I must say they must have done something to your brain..."

"Why you act so coldly at me? I don't know what they had said to you but everything is a lie. I don't remember you being so emotionless. What happened?"

Reno looked down in his feet. "Nothing. Nothing happened."

"Bullshit! Your voice betrays you!" Then he noticed it. "Where....where is Cissnei?" 

Noone answered and Zack held his sword a little tighter.

"Where... ** WHERE ** is she?"

"We don't know. But perhaps you do." Someone said and another person appeared from above. He walked closer to Zack and he stopped just some meters away from him.

"Tseng!" Zack shouted and Tseng nodded.

"I remember my name perfectly. Answer what I asked." Tseng said and put his hands casually inside his coat's pocket.

"I don't know what you mean." Zack said and he gestured his hand around.

Tseng looked disappointed. "You were the last one that talked to her. When you were on Gongaga. Since then she had disappeared. Making her also a potential threat..."

"Get out off your ass one second and rewind what are you saying! Cissnei a traitor? Wake up, Tseng! You have worked with her. How you are saying that!"

Tseng stopped talking and eyed Zack. "Didn't you ask yourself how you ended inside that lab?"

Zack's eyes widened. "What..."

"I never saw you after Shinra troopers attacked you. _ Never.  _ I tried searching for your body only to find it in a lab. The only people knowing that lab were specific people. So it is potential that she was the one that put you there to heal."

"And why didn't you take me out?" Zack asked confused.

Tseng's eyes turned soft for a second. "I...couldn't. If I did, I would hurt your recovery and it would result in your death."

Zack didn't say anything and just watched Tseng. Then after a while, Tseng opened his mouth.

"And how you got out, you ask yourself. It appears that that thing is also a lie told from your friend."

"What? What are you saying?" 

Tseng smirked at him. "As my colleagues said, the person behind you is a high threat to our organization. It appears that he also had lied to you."

"Stop saying nonsense!" Zack yelled at him.

But Tseng continued. "In the code inside the lab that controlled your recovery stated that only one person could take you out and that person was Cloud Strife since he only knew the code. And by chance, he was that person that rescued you. I saw him take you out of the lab.  _ Alone. _ Perhaps he wasn't the one that put you there to recover but..."

"But what! He never took me out. He broke the glass! He never typed any codes. So everything you say is a lie!"

Zack barked back and Tseng stopped talking. He looked confused for a second but after a while, he spoke.

"Perhaps my observations were incorrect..."

"No shit!"

"...but what I said before is the truth. Your friend is one of the threats of Shinra."

"Come on Tseng! Try to remember him! He is a trooper! What a trooper can do..."

Tseng's eyes turned cold. "He is an alpha trooper that happens to know classified information. And I know that you were not the one that told him those since you value your SOLDIER honor above anything. So what he knows is unexpected! Someone must have told him that."

"Well, he must have learned that somewhere. Or heard it on the lab."

"Impossible! I can excuse the strength he required from the mako that was injected to him but that information was never given to anyone except a few people."

"What few people? All SOLDIERS knew this...."

Tseng closed his eyes and opened them more determined than before.

"Maybe. But what he said before his panic attack was crucial and colored him a menace to us. The thing you thought was laughable."

Zack observed him for a while and when he didn't give an answer Tseng answered.

"Someone indeed had destroyed the mako pumps in this area."

That made Zack stop moving and tried to remember what Cloud had said. 

"Wolf?"

Tseng nodded slowly. "And only Sephiroth, Wolf and Rufus Shinra knew this." He slowly walked towards Zack who didn't move from his place. "And how a single trooper knows this sort of information just by accident?"

Zack didn't answer troubled with what Tseng said.

"Exactly Zack. Your friend is hiding something. Or actually someone. And that someone must be the number one threat of Shinra."

"Wolf." Reno said and Zack turned his head towards him. His tone was unclear but his motions show nostalgia and sadness.

Tseng nodded. "Indeed. Wolf had disappeared without any trace. Yet someone random knows something that no one else knows. So he carries essential data and can be catastrophic to us. So what we must do is simple!"

Tseng pulled out his gun and pointed it at Zack. "Hand him over."

Finally, Zack snapped from his thoughts and yelled back. "Cloud isn't a traitor! Cloud didn't do anything and his memories are just shattered. He must be confused!"

"Zack, your friend..."

" **_ His name is Cloud!  _ ** And you know it! You have worked with him! You were with him! How about you think for a second and don't act like an entitled ass! Cloud had never met Wolf since he wasn't even in the Shinra building! Wolf was with Rufus! He was his bodyguard if you remember. So if you think that Cloud knows the whereabouts of someone that he hasn't met before in his life, you are mistaken!"

"..." Tseng watched Zack talk while still pointing the gun on him. 

After a while, he took the gun away and shook his head. With that Reno moved and attacked Zack. Zack didn't move until Reno was close to him and with a swift motion took his baton and bend it. Reno jumped back surprised at first with what Zack did but threw the baton on Zack. Zack caught it and was electrocuted with its touch. But that didn't stop him from throwing it back at Rude who had come down.

Rude dodged it and punched Zack. Zack held the punch easily and head pumped him making Rude curve and move back. His glasses were destroyed by the impact so he threw them away while he pulled another pair and wore them.

"This is not funny, Tseng! Say what you want to say like a man!"

Tseng looked at him and after a while, he declaimed. "...Cloud will come with us...dead."

That made Zack flinch and that resulted in a punch hitting his face strong enough to draw blood from Rude. Zack yelled a 'what' to Tseng while dodging the upcoming attacks from Reno and Rude. Tseng continued.

"Our....no.... my orders were to bring him dead. I...I am unsure of what role he plays since everything that was said was debunked but my orders are orders."

"Dead?" Reno asked surprised.

A mistake since Zack grabbed him without a problem and he threw him at Rude. Zack turned back at Tseng surprised as well.

"What are you saying? You will kill someone that might not play a role..."

"A casualty but orders are orders." Tseng said and moved towards the building where Cloud was still in it.

Zack moved to stop Tseng who blocked the attack. Rude was behind and with a fast motion threw Zack away from Tseng. Zack stood up from the roll he did and was ready to immobilized Tseng with his sword when... a shot was fired. On...

... ** on him. **

He fell back unable to think for a second. And tried to find where the bullet hit him hard. Tseng watched Zack fall down and after some time he pulled his gun down. He... had shot Zack. He sighed looking at his gun. He slowly approached him to see if he was unconscious since he wasn't moving at all. Reno and Rude stood back surprised and didn't know what to do.

Tseng moved closer and lightly hit with his boot Zack's boot. When he didn't answer, he sighed. He checked if he had used the correct gun and when he was sure that it was indeed the one, he grimaced. He didn't want this reaction. So why was Zack not moving? He didn't know what to think. Luckily for him, he didn't need to when felt someone throwing him away. Tseng whirled and stood up easily while he pulled out his gun ready to fire. Only to see a hand completely destroying his gun by just smashing into pieces. He slowly moved his head up and saw Zack watching the pieces touching the ground.

Then Zack moved back. He moved his head up. Tseng saw that his face had changed. His eyes were cold and his face so stiff, so unlikable for Zack. His eyes focused at Tseng. Tseng stared at him surprised.

"You...are ok." 

Zack's voice was also cold, so serious making all Turks petrified.

"Cloud's gift was a bulletproof vest. I thought it was silly but wearing it proved how wrong I was."

His eyes became furious. He slowly pulled out his sword and without moving from his place, he managed to cut Reno's staff in half with a single move of his sword and pointed his sword at Tseng.

"I thought you were  _ different! _ But a Turk is a Turk. They act only when they have orders even if that order goes beyond their beliefs. That's why we hate you! You do only your job, you never consider what the consequences can be!"

He walked closer to Tseng who stepped back. Reno tried to move but only a single strike from Zack's sword made him fall back on Rude.

"Don't make me face you!" Zack yelled at Reno who gasped at the violent cut the sword had done to his leg.

Rude tried to heal Reno but Zack had managed to cut the materia in half making them unusable.

"Zack! Listen to me! You are not acting like yourself!" Reno even though the intense cut in his leg shouted at Zack.

Zack stared at him. "Act like myself?  ** Bullshit! ** _ You tried to kill me! _ "

"Zack. I..." Tseng started but he felt Zack's sword entering his shoulder. It didn't go deep enough but enough to draw blood out. He pulled the sword out and watched as Tseng tried to stop his blood from coming out.

" **_ SHUT UP! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE! _ ** _ A filthy friend! _ "

Yet Tseng didn't stop talking. "Your eyes...have turned green."

Zack stopped for a while watching Tseng trying to silence his cries and closed his eyes. 

_ Green? _

Then he realized what was happening. But before he tried to do anything, he felt a sharp pain in one of his wrist. Zack opened his eyes and observed his wrist. But there was nothing on it. Yet he felt like something was burning on it. He yelled at the intense pain and after a while, it stopped. 

For some time no one moved and only cries or sharp breaths were heard. Then after a while, Zack moved his hand and Reno's cut, as well as Tseng's, were cured. Both men watched as the cuts slowly closed and Zack put his sword behind his back.

"Why?" Finally, Tseng was the one that broke the silence.

Zack still watched his wrist and after a while, he looked at Tseng. His eyes were normal yet hold so many emotions.

"...I am not...you." He simply said.

Tseng didn't say anything. Only watched him. Then after a while, something red flashed in the sky. Zack got out of his thoughts and realized something. Up in the sky, he saw fireworks showing the signal to all Barret's teams. His eyes widened.  _ The pumps! _ But what made him more shocked and unable to move was the black silhouettes moving around the sky.

"Whispers..." He heard Tseng say.

So, those were the Whispers. Zack knew them after Aerith had explained them to him. Or what they did. So why they were so many here. Was something not supposed to happen tonight? The Whispers moved up and down and then moved towards the Shinra building. 

Suddenly something white moved up in the sky and after a while flew down so close to Zack and the others that they could feel the coldness from it. It looked like a Whisper. It had exactly the same appearance and moved the same as them. But the color made them more friendly to the eye.

"That can't be. Whispers are only black!" Zack heard someone saying.

That was true. Whispers were only colored black. So what was that thing in front of him? Zack tried to touch it but a sound so loud made it flew away. But Zack knew exactly what was that sound. It was a bomb going off. Zack shook his head and was ready to move when some Whispers flew near him nearly threw him off balance. They moved up and...hit all the tubes in the sky.

The Whispers hit them with so much force that after a while the tubes moved and started falling. Zack's eyes widened and turned his face towards the hollow building Cloud was still in! He ran towards it but someone held him from his suspenders and moved him backward. He tried to stand up only for a violent earthquake to make him fall down again. He looked at the place he was before and sure enough one of the tubes had fallen on it. 

And then the only thing he could do was to watch with horror as the other tube fell onto the building. 

**_ "CLOUD!!!" _ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said in the previous, I wondered what would happen to our boys.  
> I still wonder what will happen later on.
> 
> I wonder....hahahaha


	8. Moving On

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello Everyone! I am back (to my bullshit)! Hahaha! This chapter is by far the longest one I have written! And it is really good!
> 
> Anyhow, have fun! ;)

The only thing he could do was to watch with horror as the other tube fell onto the hollow building. 

**_"CLOUD!!!"_ **

Zack screamed but his voice was muffled and no one heard it. The tube had fallen onto the building destroying it completely and making a new hole in its place. Zack had kneeled and felt himself hitting the ground with his fist. He whispered Cloud's name again hoping for a miracle. He was exhausted and so done with everything.

That feeling was familiar to him. He had witnessed it so many times. He felt once again hopeless. He didn't know what to do. What to _feel_. He watched as the fire spread around the hole showing that what the tube had in it was flammable. This was also familiar. Like he was back at Nibelheim. He saw Whispers circling the hole and some of them started to come closer to him.

If it wasn't for the one that had saved him for getting crushed before, he would have died again. That person pulled him again from his suspenders and Zack went backward. At this exact moment, the Whispers hit the ground he was kneeling just mere seconds ago. Zack watched them come out but didn't do anything since that person still dragged him by his suspenders. Zack decided that he would help them and started to walk. His focus though was still at the hole in the distance.

" _Zack!_ " Someone screamed at him.

Zack finally turned his face and saw Tseng still holding him by his suspenders. Tseng's face was still part emotionless but there was worry in his eyes. That was enough for Zack to focus on him. He watched him talk but anything he said didn't reach Zack's ears. Tseng shook him but still, Zack didn't respond. His mind was elsewhere. Zack felt something was going on since he could see Reno and Rude on the background but he didn't care.

Suddenly, Zack heard Reno gasping violently and that made Zack focus. Then finally he could hear Tseng speak.

"... _Zack!_ **Focus!** " 

Zack watched Tseng. Tseng finally sighed and said.

"Finally!"

Zack grimaced at the friendly tone but his eyes drifted behind where Rude and Reno where. Reno looked exhausted and Rude was by his side holding him up. He walked towards them and saw that Reno was hit. He moved his hand and the new scratches disappeared. Reno nodded at Zack showing his thanks.

"How?" Zack asked.

"Some damn Whispers hit me!"

"I see." Zack eyed Reno as he got away from Rude grasp and stood by himself.

Zack then pulled out his sword and slashed the air. Reno held his hands up and Rude went by his side covering him up. Both sat on silence when the heard a thump near them. They turned their heads at the sound and saw that a huge monster was down. Reno sighed and Rude moved away looking at the monster curious.

Zack put back his sword and examined the monster. That monster was down leveled. And that specific type was not bred in Midgar. 

"A...monster?" Finally, Reno spoke.

"It can't be. They are not monsters here anymore. Wolf take care of them!" Rude said and turned his gaze at Tseng.

Tseng watched the monster as well and by his grimace, it showed that he had some questions too. Even though he wanted to say them aloud, he turned towards Zack and asked him.

"Why?"

Zack didn't move for a while. After some time, he started walking away. Reno held his arm stopping him in his tracks.

"Where...where are you going?" He asked surprised.

Zack didn't move at all but he yanked his arm away from Reno. He looked up at the starry night.

"Zack..." Tseng started.

" **Don't** . _Please don't._ " Zack whispered.

Tseng stopped and looked away. Yet his mouth moved.

"Sometimes you don't need a will to live. You just...live."

"This is your way of living?" Zack asked without emotion making Tseng glance at him with worry.

"Sometimes you live to find that will." He quietly said.

"I..."

Zack turned his face at Tseng. "...I have hope! That's my will. And that's what I need right now. I have hope that Cloud is alive. Had escaped before this!"

"Zack..." Reno started but Zack interrupted him.

" _Cloud's time is not over!_ I know he is _alive_ . I can feel it! And if you think that _hope_ is laughable then please do laugh! To me, it is enough to fight, to move forward."

Reno watched him but after a while, he smirked. "Cloud is a lucky bastard to have you by his side. What I wanted to say was that..." He pointed at the sky. "...We have a problem."

Zack turned his head towards what Reno pointed. Up in the sky Whispers circled the area. What's more, the Whispers circled the area behind Zack blocking the way. The only way forward was the hole that was created. Zack didn't mind since he would walk at the hole and moved forward towards the wall they jumped from. What was the thing that irritated him though was that the Turks would follow him. Since there was not another way to go, they needed to go together.

"So it seems that we will go together." Rude said and Zack sighed.

"I don't see another option."

"Lucky for you, puppy boy! We will follow you and guard you at the same time." Reno spoke and stood near Zack.

"And then you woke up." Zack responded and started to walk again.

Reno gasped but didn't say anything as he followed Zack. Rude followed suit and Tseng had stayed and watched them walk. Zack stopped at his tracks.

"You too." He barked at Tseng and started walking again.

Tseng grimaced at the tone Zack used but after a while of standing and watching the fire near the hole, he followed them.

"I will ask again." Rude finally broke the silence between them.

Zack looked back at him as he was following Tseng. Zack stopped walking at some point making Tseng move ahead. That way Zack could see Tseng if he did anything that he wasn't supposed to. Either way, he thanked Odin that soon enough he would be at the path that led to the wall that they had jumped in from Sector 4. He also looked around hoping to find any tracks indicating that Cloud had passed from here. _But nothing._

"What!" Tseng asked annoyed.

Zack's eyes widened. _Why_ **_was_ ** _Tseng annoyed?_ Zack should be annoyed and ready to tear each one of them apart. Or actually only Tseng. Well, actually... he was happy Tseng was annoyed. Zack smirked at that. 

"Ask what?" Reno urged him and Rude moved his glasses closer to his face.

"Don't you find it weird? That Zack just killed a monster?"

That made Tseng stop in his track as well Zack. Zack shook his head. That...was true! He had just killed a monster.

"I mean...of course, pardon me for the idiotic question... but didn't Wolf kill all of them?" Rude continued and Tseng answered.

"No that wasn't an idiotic question. You are right. There are no monsters here anymore. Yet..."

_"Look out!_ " Reno shouted and pulled out his baton.

Zack turned and thank god he had pulled out his sword because a large green monster attacked him. He slashed it quickly without a problem and proceeded to kill any other that tried to attack him. Rude and Reno did the same while Tseng was preoccupied with a large one that was using fire. Yet none of them had a chance of killing them.

"This is...impossible. They were not life readings ever since Wolf had left Sector 4,5." Tseng shouted at them while reflecting one of the attacks the monster did.

"I also remember not seeing anything while I walked around here." Rude shouted and punched one of the monsters.

"This is ridiculous! Those are not high leveled. They are low leveled. Immatures." Reno hit some of them with his thunder materia.

"They are not bred here!" Zack said without sweat and proceed to destroy another swarm of monsters.

"What!" Reno shouted at him.

"Those monsters are indigenous only on Wutai forests. So that shows us what they are." Zack responded and cut one of the last monsters.

"Wutai monsters?" Rude replied and Reno slapped him in the shoulder.

"No, you idiot."

"They have escaped from the lab." Tseng said and threw his used gloves away and pulled another set from his coat.

"Or someone released them..." Zack said and put his sword behind his back.

Reno laughed. "Well, I know someone who would do that just because."

"Dr. Hojo?" Rude asked and Reno nodded.

Zack had kneeled near one of them and showed a small tube to Rude. "Those tubes are only used in labs so what we said is true. And there is only one fictional lab in Midgar and it is indeed Hojo's. That motherfucker..."

"He deserves a whopping!" Reno said and put his baton in his place.

"After what he had done to me, he will get much more..." Zack responded and turned towards Tseng who had moved towards an uphill. "Doesn't your scientist trust you to do his dirty job? Or perhaps he wants to get rid of you too?"

Tseng watched him and put his hands in his coat. "I don't work for him."

"That's true! You are working _with_ him! So I ask again. Why did he release so many monsters? If he knows what you do, then why go the extra mile?"

Tseng didn't answer and just looked Zack. 

Zack sighed. "Something is going in and still you deny it!"

"I am not denying anything!" Tseng finally spoke.

"Then, by all means, tell me, _Tseng_ , what made you a total ass? Why can't you see with whom you are working!"

"I am working for Shinra."

"And his shit tone washed people in it. They don't care about us. Never did. They literally tried to kill me. They made us suffer! And you still defending them!"

Tseng shouted finally furious at him. "Who said I am defending them! I am doing my job whatever it takes! That's what I do!"

"Even to kill a friend!" Zack furiously responded.

Tseng opened his mouth but he wasn't able to say something. A swarm of Whispers washed over Tseng nearly throwing him off-balance and circled the team. Before anyone did anything, they moved so quickly towards Reno and threw him down on the ground. Reno yelled at the impact and almost instantly the Whispers disappeared. Reno held his arm trying to silence his cries but failing. Zack ran towards him and kneeled beside him. Rude was by Reno's side holding him while Zack pulled out his Heal materia and used it on Reno.

Reno's eyes showed that every minute it passed the pain was reduced. When Zack was done, he stood up and looked up in the sky. There were still Whispers flying around. Which wasn't good. Something was going on.

"Why they keep doing this! This fucking hurt!" Reno murmured and sat up looking at Rude.

Rude moved his shoulders up. This was the third time they had hit Reno. They did that after the tube had fallen, after some time while they walked to here and now. They wanted to say something with this.

"They want you down for an obvious reason." Tseng said and Reno laughed.

"Why thank you, **boss!** What kind words of encouragement!" He yelled at him but as he was standing up, he fell. He held his arm again grimacing.

"Eh, stupid pup! You didn't heal me?" Reno asked annoyed and Zack eyed him.

"I did. I can't heal you any father...they must have pulled your shoulder and perhaps your leg."

"What! Those smokes better be ready since I will fuck them up."

"Yes, you will inhale them." Zack said and Rude smirked at that.

"Don't laugh! Help me stand up." Reno hit Rude but Rude didn't complain.

As Rude was putting the Reno's other arm around his shoulder, Zack moved back to let them move. But Reno's eyes drifted behind at Tseng and Zack immediately turned back. Then he saw Tseng aiming his gun at him. _That bastard!_ Zack gritted his teeth but that was the only thing he could do since after that he heard the gun firing. He closed his eyes as the last feeling he felt was betrayal but....nothing else came. Instead, he heard a loud thump near him.

He opened his eyes and saw one of the green monsters Tseng was fighting before. It was still alive and was jerking around. It was like it was hit with thunder. Then Zack noticed it. Just near the head, there was a black bullet that emitted lighting. He quickly pulled out his sword and finished the job. 

He watched as near the bullet small sparks were flying off and his eyes then drifted at where he was shoot before. He looked at Tseng who watched his gun and after a while of checking he threw it away.

"That..." Zack started but Tseng interrupted him.

"As you saw...this gun had electricity bullets. That when you hit the target, it will stay down for some minutes cause the electricity. But if the target has a bulletproof vest, those do the same damage as the regular ones. None."

"So..."

Tseng looked away. "I never tried to kill you. That wasn't my intention. I just wanted you to stay put. But it backfired at me. When I saw you unconscious there I thought I had killed you. I didn't know what to think." He turned and gazed at Zack. "I...I thought, no... think you as a friend. I might have destroyed that trust now but to me, you are still one."

Zack stood there unmoving and didn't say anything after Tseng was done. He just watched him and after a while, he put his hands on his sides and closed his eyes.

"Yes...you have destroyed some of my trust. But..." He glanced up at Tseng and titled his head. "...that's a start to fix it."

Tseng finally nodded and laughed. "Sometimes you surprise me, Fair. This is one of them."

Zack walked towards him and put his hand on Tseng's shoulder. "We are humans Tseng. Not robots. We move with emotions and logic. And value some things above others. I have made my choice on that matter and that's why I am against what I did. I hope you find that answer yourself."

Tseng nodded some time after Zack pulled his arm and walked ahead of him. Rude and Reno followed behind and Tseng watched the sky.

"A will to live, indeed." He said after a while and moved forward.

"This is the road I need to take." Zack gestured up ahead.

The Turks watched it and after a while, they shook their head.

"We, on the other hand, need a high place so a helicopter can take us." Tseng said.

"This place." Reno showed a high hill.

Tseng nodded. "This means our roads change."

Rude pushed his glasses back. "This is goodbye. Until the next time."

Zack nodded. "Until the next time, I beat your asses again."

"Clever, Fair." Tseng commented.

"And Reno please when I see you again, have better comebacks. They were pathetic but what you can except for a pathetic man like you." 

Reno smirked at him. "If that Whispers hadn't hit me, I would have shown you a fucking lesson. Now, this is not fun!"

Zack waved his hand as he had begun walking. "Whatever! And Tseng..."

Tseng looked at him. 

"I hope you find what you are searching for. And work that redemption arc!" 

Tseng smirked at him. He shook his head and started to walk in the opposite direction of Zack. Zack continued his with a heavy heart. The more he walked the closer he got in the wall. And still no sight of Cloud. But he still had hope. The only thing he had. He watched his steps ready to attack any monsters he saw in his way. Why Hojo had released so many was beyond his mind. If he knew that the Turks had come to deal with them then? Did he know that Avalanche would come here and so would Cloud?

Probably not. Then why free the monsters if he didn't have any gain from it? He must have known they would come here. Then why free monsters and not let Shinra troopers come? Where the monsters more precise in their work? Or...they were a better option since they only killed and didn't hold them hostages? Yes, that was the answer.

As he walked he noticed something. He had walked that place recently. Did he do a circle? But that way was close to the wall. Yet something was off. So he walked outside the road and jumped over some wreck in his way and he noticed it. There in the distance, he saw the mako pump he and Cloud had put the bomb on. Zack scratched his head. Why then didn't they walk up and instead went down after they had put the bomb? Didn't any of them notice it?

Before he could do anything else, he heard a loud purr coming from behind him. Zack immediately jumped away and started running and stopped in what he thought was a safe zone. He looked back and saw a huge monster stalking him. It was a familiar sight. It was identical to a dragon yet it didn't have any wings. A lizard type monster. And he knew that lizard. It was the most dangerous one of them all. It threw some fireballs at Zack.

Zack was ready to fire some ice2 at it when he noticed that...he didn't have mako power! He had enough to use curaga and some other materias but not enough to use what he needed against that lizard. His eyes widened as he realized. That's why the Whispers attacked Reno. Since he only had the Heal materia he could only heal them meaning using his own mako power. Damn those Whispers!

He continued running for a while and started to think for an alternative. He could fight it but fighting that type of lizard dead-on was a death wish without materias. Its flesh was hot and could result in death if he was more than enough time near it. He could land some hits and make a run for it. And that was what he did.

He came closer holding his sword and manage to hit the lizard without staying by its side for too long. The lizard tried to attack but Zack had just run away. He was sure that he could defeat it without a problem but the heat was already unbearable for him. So he ran away and hoping to find a way to escape. That lizard also had high stamina and could tackle Zack without a problem. So, he needed to find a high place to escape it. He had noticed a highway road up ahead. 

...There it was. Yet it was higher than Zack wanted it to be. He could try and jump to each it but he wasn't sure that he would reach it. But it was his only option and he would take that than waiting for the lizard to eat him. So he ran as fast as he could and jump on some debris to have a high start. With it, his chances of reaching that highway were up. But as he had climbed it and was ready to run, his mind stopped him. Up here he could see everything. So his eyes drifted on their own towards the hole that he refused to see for a while. Finally, he felt...alone. _Hopeless_ again. He froze.

He started to think about what he might have done wrong. Was Cloud still under the building? Would that mean he had left him alone? He had left him to die? He clutched his head unable to contain his feelings of regret. Did he fuck up again? 

_Was Cloud dead?_

He felt worthlessness surrounding him. Making him lose his surroundings but he didn't care. _Was he that stupid!_ _ Cloud was dead!  _ Cloud was still in the building when he fought with the Turks. He should have run back and had destroyed the building.  Had tried to!  He scratched his head feeling it go numb.  Cloud was dead. 

"Z....Z...Zack!" 

Zack looked up. There he saw the white Whisper he had seen before moving above the highway but facing him. Like it wanted him to come there. _Follow it._ Zack felt relieved for a second and started to walk towards it. Then something shook the ground behind him. He looked back and saw another swarm of Whispers falling on the debris behind him destroying it. Zack immediately started running away and towards the highway. He had only one option.

**Jump.**

He ran as fast as he could while feeling the ground behind him getting destroyed and at the last step he jumped. He was so close to touching the edge of the highway but... _he had failed._ He felt himself falling down at the abyss until...something held him.

**Hard!**

He felt a strong grip on his wrist. _A hand!_ Zack then moved his other hand up and held it. And there he felt a wolf. He was touching a _wolf emblem!_ He opened his eyes and tried to see the person that held him but they pushed him up with so much strength that he was thrown on the highway. Zack rolled on it and eventually stopped. He breathed heavily at the sere panic he felt and didn't acknowledge the hands on his shoulders. Until a slap made him grab the person in front of him as he focused.

He was facing Cloud! He felt wetness on his cheeks and Zack knew he was crying. Yet he didn't stop. Instead, he found the wrist that had the bracelet and held it in his hand. After that, he put his head on Cloud's forehead and tried to feel the scar. **And he did.**

The relief he felt was so much for him to handle and if it wasn't for Cloud hugging him probably thinking the same thing, he would have blacked out. Zack hugged him back wanting nothing more. **Cloud was safe.**

"Zack!" Cloud whispered at Zack's ear and he finally faced Cloud.

Cloud had blood dripping from his scar and his eyes were normal. His tone was normal too. Other than those small things he was ok. That put a smile on Zack's face.

"Cloud! You are ok!" He yelled at him and Cloud tightened his hold.

"I am. Are you? You weren't responding. "

Zack nodded and finally stop hugging Cloud. He looked around him. They were on the highway and as he saw just some meters away from the wall. He sighed happily.

"I am ok. I am sorry, I made you worry. But tell me. How you climbed the highway?"

Cloud's eyes turned from happy to confused making Zack worry. 

"I thought you brought me here?"

This time Zack's eyes turned confused. "I didn't?"

Cloud watched him. "I remember...pushing you and then I woke up here on the highway. At the other end." Cloud gestured behind him. "So I came here trying to find you since I felt someone carrying me here. And then I saw you running away from some Whispers."

Zack watched him and tried to assemble what had happened. "You were the one that shouted my name?"

"When you were running away from the Whispers? Yes?"

"Do you remember the hollow budling?"

When Cloud nodded, Zack continued. "You were inside it unconscious and I tried to pull you out but the Whispers hit the tubes in the sky and one fell on it. Making me think..."

Cloud eyed Zack and immediately held his hand. Zack noticed the bracelet. The light it emitted before was gone and only by seeing the mako running around and the feather moving you could tell it was a real materia. But without a second thought, he held Cloud's wrist.

"I am here."

"I know. And that what matters right now." Zack said and nodded. 

Cloud smiled back. Zack relaxed and let himself breathe. For the time being. Then Zack after a while looked at the edge of the highway and then turned his gaze back.

"So if we walk in the opposite direction we will find the other edge that leads to the wall?"

Cloud nodded. So Zack started to move when he was hit and thrown back by something hard. Cloud moved and held him up from behind. Zack turned and looked at what had pushed him and saw...Whispers. They had blocked the part the needed to walk and made them stay on this edge of the highway.

"I am starting to get mad at you!" Zack yelled at them and proceed to cut them with his sword.

"Why?" Cloud asked.

"They kept doing this!"

"What exactly?"

Zack looked at Cloud. "To mess me up. Try to attack me or try to kill me."

Cloud looked down on his bracelet and brushed it with his hand. "So what did it do?"

"Cloud?" Zack addressed him.

Cloud opened his mouth only for a loud sound of purring to overcome it. Cloud turned behind him to see what exactly was that sound and a large hand hit him, smashing him inside the road. Zack screamed Cloud's name worried only to his surprise the answer he got was something...amazing! The hand that had smashed Cloud inside the road was in an instant covered with particles of ice, freezing it entirely. The lizard roared with pain and moved its hand up and away from Cloud.

Zack had opened his mouth from the sere surprise on how Cloud had used his materia. This was something, he would have never thought of. That way he was protected by the massive heat but also could escape while the lizard was preoccupied with its arm.

Cloud immediately moved and rolled away from the lizard. As he rolled away, he stood up and jumped behind at Zack with his back facing him. Zack immediately understood what Cloud wanted Zack to do. As Cloud came closer, Zack opened his arms and held him, and immediately Zack used his curaga on him curing the burns and the claws scratches. Cloud stopped for a while and as the lizard had recovered, he moved his arm and lighting hit it making it fall. 

Both of them heard a large crash and Cloud moved up after he was sure that Zack was done with his materia. Cloud looked at him with worry as he heard Zack cursed under his breath.

"I don't have enough mako power to use any other materia! Those damn Whispers made sure that I would run out!" Zack cursed.

Cloud helped him stand up and after some time of checking himself his eyes widened.

"Zack... I am out!" 

Zack watched him. "What do you mean you are out?"

"I don't have any other mako power. I am out!"

Zack froze and his eyes widened. " _Impossible!_ You always have mako power left on you! How you are out?"

Cloud looked down at his bracelet and held it in his hand. "I...I don't know! This is first to me too!"(1)

"Cloud..." Zack started only for another roar to interrupt him.

Both of them turned their gazes down at where the lizard had fallen. It was near the mako pump and because it's one arm was frozen and shattered to the ground, it had difficulty to roll and stand on its feet.

" _Zack,_ **the bomb!** _Activate the bomb_." Cloud yelled at him. 

"I don't have the remote! You have it!"

Cloud observed him. "I don't have it!"

Zack's mouth opened. Noone had it! He turned towards the lizard again. It was so close to turn around and he was sure that after it had done that, it would eventually kill them. Only if he had an elixir so he could fire a thing at it. Or at the bomb, so he could fucking activate it! His eyes focused on Cloud who was also watching the lizard. Zack's hands moved on their own and held Cloud's wrist. Cloud turned and looked at him. Zack pulled Cloud and moved him behind him, shuttering him. 

Cloud moved without any protests and stayed behind Zack. He heard him breathe heavily. Zack grimaced. How on Gaia did Cloud lose all his mako power? Cloud was always careful with it and always had much more needed on him at any given point! It also made you slowly exhausted to the point of fainting. This day couldn't go better!

He cursed again. Behind him, there were still Whispers blocking their exit and their only way of moving was in front of the lizard. **Damn it all**. He could try and slash it but that was still a death wish! He would burn alive! His eyes widened when he noticed that the lizard had finally rolled and its eyes locked on him. Zack still holding Cloud's wrist, moved completely in front of Cloud. He bit his lips ready for anything that would happen.

To his surprise, the bomb exploded!

Zack watched as the fire completely melt the pump as well as the lizard which was screaming in agony as its body was hit by the blast. Zack couldn't help himself as he felt a large smile forming in his face. But how the bomb was activated since none of them had the means to do so? Zack felt someone staring at him so he looked where he thought that person was watching. Sure enough, at the hill just above the highway, he could see the Turks watching them.

Tseng had his gun out and Rude and Reno were behind him watching the fire. Tseng's gun had smoke coming from its muzzle showing that Tseng had shot the bomb. Saving Zack and Cloud. At that thought, he immediately walked forward covering Cloud from them. Cloud didn't complain and stood behind Zack. He was still breathing heavily. Zack started to worry but he would worry later as he still had some problems to solve.

Suddenly, a loud song started playing. Reno and Rude looked at their suits and then at Tseng. Tseng hadn't moved at all from the position he was in. Rude came closer to him and pulled out Tseng's phone. He tapped on it and moved it near Tseng.

"Tseng." Zack's eyes turned harsh as he instantly recognized the voice.

"Dr. Hojo..." Tseng answered back.

"Ah, there you are. Did you finish what you were instructed to?"

"Enlight me."

"Very well. Did you eliminate the failure?"

"We located the target..."

Zack watched as finally, Tseng turned his gaze at them. Slowly he turned his gun at them. Zack moved back feeling Cloud's presence in his back and tried to cover him as best as he could. Tseng watched him silently and after a long time of silence, he slowly put his gun down.

"...but unfortunately due to the appearance of unknown creatures, we lost track of him."

"Ah! That's unfortunate and inappropriate for you not to finish your job. Come back and report at once!"

The phone went dead as Tseng held it in his hands and put it in his coat. He turned at Zack again. Zack sighed with relief, smiled at him and winked at him. Tseng shook his head but smirked at him and walked away.

"I think you have found what you were after..." Zack whispered and watched him go as he stood there for some time watching the empty hill.

"Cloud! Zack!" Someone yelled at them.

Zack turned his head toward the highroad and there he saw Tifa and Aerith running towards them. The Whispers had disappeared leaving the road open for them to leave.

"Tifa! Aerith!" He yelled back and let the girl come closer.

"Where were you? We waited for so long for you that we came back looking for you..." Tifa said and Aerith gasped.

"You idiots! What happened? Zack, were you shot!"

Aerith shouted at him rewarding him with all of them looking at his chest. He caught Cloud's worried stare and immediately started to say.

"I was shot but see I am fine. Nothing to worry about!...hey!" Cloud slapped him in the neck but didn't say anything else.

He simply breathed out. With difficulty. Aerith turned her gaze at him and asked him worried.

"Cloud?"

Cloud moved his eyes on her.

"Are you ok?"

Cloud closed his eyes while still breathing slowly. "Just...tired."

Both him and Zack felt a familiar rush of curaga flowing inside them but Aerith came closer to Cloud. She held one of his hands and closed her eyes. Then after a while, she looked at him shocked.

"You used all your mako power?"

Cloud didn't say anything but looked down at their hands. Tifa gasped.

"You are never out of mako!" Tifa shouted worried.

"Well, we had to deal with an annoying creature." Zack said and looked back at the destroyed mako pump.

"We also encountered some monsters but after the Whispers hit the tubes in the sky." Tifa said and Aerith nodded.

"Yes. We actually started to get worried after you didn't show up and we started looking for you. Tifa why don't you notify Barret that we had found them so they can go to the wall?" Aerith replied and Tifa nodded 

"On it." She pulled out a PHS and started to type a number on it.

Aerith turned back at Cloud and closed her eyes. Then inside their closed hands, a light appeared surprising both Zack and Cloud. She smiled at them.

"I am sharing some of my mako power with you. It is not dangerous so don't worry. Until you rest, those will help you feel better. I don't have any elixir with me so this is the best option."

Cloud nodded and Aerith smiled. 

"They are on the wall. Is Cloud ok?" Tifa had returned and watched Cloud.

"He will be fine but he needs to rest. Until then we can leave."

Tifa smiled at them relieved with what Aerith had said and started walking. Aerith followed suit not before looking down on something and smirking at both of them. Zack let the girls move forward as he stood in his place. When he didn't notice Cloud moving he turned to look at him. Cloud was beside him and hadn't moved at all.

He still breathed heavily but this time it was not forced. Zack shook his head. They both had a long day. It was a blessing to hear that finally, they could walk home. He looked down at Cloud who still didn't move and Zack started to worry. Then he noticed it. Zack was still holding Cloud's wrist all this time. That's why Cloud didn't move. He waited for Zack.

So, Zack started walking and pulled slightly with him Cloud's hand. Cloud moved his gaze up from where he was looking and Zack smiled at him. Cloud watched him for a second but he smiled back. He walked closer but not far away from Zack waiting from him to also move, not breaking their hold. Both needed this touch. So why break it?

So with that, both of them started to walk beside each other and without stopping holding each other hands.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"...In more popular news! The earthquakes yesterday were a natural phenomenon caused by the planet's plates that were met with Shinras pumps. This caused the three large earthquakes in the areas Sectors 4, 5 and 6. There is nothing to afraid since none of them resulted in a death or injury. In other news! Yesterday while the earthquakes were taking place, Avalanche teams started violating the Shinra's protocols and rob one of the huge factories of Sector 6. That resulted in the immediate move of Shinra's troopers and the stop of such a crime taking place. This resulted happily since again none was injured or dead. In other news! Our Shinra reporter had taken an exclusive report over our President Shinra. In we will have the plans for the new blueprints and the opinion on the team Avalanche as well..."

Zack rolled his eyes as he watched the reporter talking on the large TV in Sector Slums 7. He was actually impressed with how much propaganda could fit in only 1 minute of talking. He grimaced at the thought of how many people were affected by this lies Shinra told them. Still, as we watched around, he could hear how some of the people were supporting Avalanche. Some didn't as he heard them cursing.

He let out a breath he was holding. He was not supporting Shinra and also didn't support the acts sometimes Avalanche did. He agreed on the fact that they needed to do something on the pumps since they took the life force of the planet. Yet sometimes hearing that they needed to act violently was something he didn't support. He looked up at the large TV seeing President Shinra talking to it yet his ears didn't hold any words of what he was saying.

Zack after a while shook his head. He was distracted again! He had come this way for a reason! _But... what?_ He scratched his head trying to remember only for someone to interrupt him. 

"Oh, gorgeous!" 

Zack made a straight face. He knew who had come to talk to him. _Jessie._ He sighed but turned to her, smiling.

"Good morning to you too, Jessie."

"Oh not so enthusiast as yesterday I see!" Jessie winked at him.

"Why should I be?"

"Well, today it is a free day so you can do anything you want! Like getting drunk or perhaps finding someone unique!" She clapped her hands at the last part and Zack shook his head.

"Haha, I doubt it... you are really happy. Did something happen?"

"Well, no. I hope it happens." Jessie winked at Zack who gave her a weak smile, clearly exhausted from this conversation.

She came closer to him and winked again. "What a crazy night, right!"

Zack nodded at her. After all the teams had been regrouped, they proceeded on leaving Sector 4,5. That went way smoother than anyone thought it would. So they walked back to Sector 4 and took the last train back at Sector Slums 7. When they had arrived all their energy was like taken from them leading each one to their homes and sleeping straight away.

"I guess. It was normal."

Jessie nodded again. "For you SOLDIERS it is something you do every day so I am not surprised at that. But I must say the last part was cuter than it needed to be."

Zack watched her. "Cuter? What was cute?"

Jessie grinned at that. "Come on! The way you took Cloud bridal carry! Ah, that needed a picture! I wished I had my camera!"

Zack tried to remember. Oh yes! From the moment they left Sector 4,5, Cloud was moving slower than needed. Having lost all his mako power made him limply and exhausted. Losing all mako power was normal for all of them but if you haven't replaced it like using an elixir or a person giving some to you in some time then your body would collapse seeking sleep. Zack, even though, was using all of his daily, he always had enough so that his body wouldn't fall asleep. 

Cloud was the only person he knew that didn't lose so much mako power and always, **_always_ **had so much to him that he could use Ultima if he wanted. Yet yesterday he had not only lost so much that it would be unnatural for him but all of it. And because he was not with any for a long period, his body tried to sleep. Even though Aerith had given some to him nothing helped since in the train he had fallen asleep on Zack's shoulder. 

Zack had also noticed that they still held hands even after they had left Sector 4,5 and had arrived in Sector Slums 7. There after some walking Cloud literally collapsed unconscious on Zack who on turn carried him in his hand like a bride and took him to their room. There after putting him on his bed, Zack did the same falling asleep instantly.

Zack facepalmed himself after a while. That's why he had come here! Usually, Cloud was waking after Zack since he wasn't a morning person and then when they were both ready, they left together to start the day. But today Cloud wasn't in the room. That raised red flags to Zack because Cloud's sword had also disappeared. Yet seeing that the bed was neatly made showed Zack that Cloud had woken up before him and had left. So Zack was searching for him.

_Felling somewhat betrayed._

Zack opened his mouth to ask Jessie if she had seen Cloud at all when he heard Barret addressing her.

"Jessie!"

Jessie turned her head back at Barret who was running towards her together with Biggs and Wedge. After he had come closer, he said.

"We found it again!"

"Who?" Jessie asked confused but Biggs answered.

"The red lion! The one that helped us yesterday."

"Red lion?" Zack asked him and Biggs nodded.

"Ah yes! You told us that you encountered some monsters in your way. We also did while we were searching for you. The last one was really powerful and we wouldn't have beaten it up if it wasn't for that red lion that showed up."

Jessie continued. "We thought that it was an enemy but it attacked the monster with so much violence that we thanked Shiva that it wasn't us that it was after. But after it defeated the monster it turned back at us and roared! It was ready to attack us!"

Wedge shouted with enthusiasm. "But Aerith walked at it and touched its head. That immediately calmed it and looked at us individually! Then like the wind, it jumped over us and ran away!"

"I see. So you were saying?" Zack asked Barret who tsked at him.

"Man, I thought you would be more interested in that. _Whatever._ While we were on our watch we saw something moving in one of the factories. So we went to check it out."

"And we saw it there! It had attacked several other monsters that the previous post hadn't taken care of." Biggs continued.

"It stopped walking and eyed us! It sat and watched us again and we could see it better. It had a numeral in its front leg XIII, wore some feathers in its head and its tail had fire! I am telling you this is not a lion but a chimera!"

"Yeah, whatever Wedge. Stop with your myths!" Jessie slapped him and Wedge stared at her.

"Not cool, Jess. Nevermind that, your mind will explode when I will tell you what happens next!"

"What happened?" She asked and Barret responded.

"That damn rat dog _talked_ ! _It could_ **_talk_ ** _!_ "

"Shut up!"

"Jessie I heard it too!" Biggs nodded.

"What did it say?" Jessie asked.

"It said _'Thank you for your kindness. Our destiny has been created so that our paths will intervene again. Until then my friends I will await you.'_ and threw us this!" Wedge shouted and showed what he was holding.

Jessie took it and Zack looked over her. The thing Jessie was holding was a key card for the Sector 5 gate. Zack's eyes widened and took the card so he could examine it. After a while, he nodded.

"That card is legit."

Wedge gasped and Barret took it in his hands. 

"So that damn dog threw us that card so we can meet it outside Midgar?"

Zack shrugged his shoulders. "It appears so."

"Damn. What should we do?" Wedge said and Barret responded.

"What you mean _what should we do?_ I ain't going outside. I have work to do here. As well as you."

"Yes but that chimera told us that our destiny is to meet again so it appears that we will use that card."

Barret rolled his eyes. "Destiny and shit. I ain't going anywhere. Here SOLDIER take it. Make it a postcard or a hat I don't care, I am staying here."

He threw the card at Zack who gladly took it and put it in his pocket. "That lion type thing must be a Shinra experiment. So that's why it had this key."

"Ah, why? Have you met it before? You should have because you were living there like a good pet." Barret said but Zack continued.

"Yes I did but I learned my lesson and that's why I try to correct my mistakes by helping you change the world we live on to better. Anyhow, I have never seen a monster having a tattoo on its leg before, have you?"

Barret watched him and then laughed after a while. "Man, you are something aren't ya? An enthusiast idiot and a smartass, no in-between. But a kind man. Different than that EX-SOLDIER boy!"

Zack laughed back and after another facepalm in his face, he asked.

"Have you seen Cloud?"

Biggs crossed his arms. "Ah, that's what was weird. You are always by his side."

"Like a good pup should do, following its owner." Barret laughed and Zack rolled his eyes.

"I heard that you are afraid of them. Should I show you my bad side?" He said and showed his teeth to which Barret grinned.

"I would like to see you try." He said but his tone was friendly.

Zack smiled at him and after the others had stopped laughing Jessie answered.

"No, I haven't actually."

"Neither of us saw him." Wedge answered and Zack sighed.

"Damnit, where did he go?"

"I don't know but I think we should return back to our watch." Biggs said as he started heading back at their hideout.

"Yeah, let's. Zack, would you like to come?" Jessie questioned him and Zack thought about it.

If he went there maybe he could find Cloud among the buildings. He nodded at them.

"Since I don't have any other better thing to do."

So with that everyone walked back the hideout. On their way, they passed Seventh Heaven and to their surprise, they found Tifa outside biting her nails. She looked worried so Zack came closer to her.

"Good morning, you are early." Zack greeted her to which Tifa jumped a little but smiled back when she noticed the person that she was speaking too.

"Good morning Zack. Actually, I am here to check the bar. Since we had that job yesterday I hired some people who take care of it. We had a lot of customers yesterday so I am glad I hired them and didn't close it."

"Oh, I see. I know that you are not a morning person so it was weird to see you here."

Tifa nodded. "I am not. I couldn't sleep actually so I came earlier here. I wanted to sleep longer but I couldn't. " She stopped talking and looked back at the road that went to the train.

"I see." Then Zack's eye shined. "Did you see Cloud?"

That made Tifa stop biting her nails and nodded. "I saw him."

"Really?"

"Yes, but he didn't come to talk to me. I am even sure that he didn't notice me. He walked in front of the bar clearly focused on his thoughts and he went towards the restricted area. Now that I am thinking about it...he wasn't walking, he was jogging. I wanted to talk to him but I couldn't go since someone must be here to watch the bar."

Zack nodded and sighed happily at knowing where Cloud was. Yet Tifa started again biting her hand.

"Is something wrong?"

Tifa eyed him. "Um...Cloud isn't usually going somewhere without a purpose. And I doubt he got a job this early in the morning since they weren't so many people around. I thought he was looking for you at first since you wake up earlier than him but seeing you now makes me anxious."

"How so?" 

"Well, the only time Cloud left without a purpose was when he left Nibelheim. And now..."

Zack understood instantly what Tifa meant and he started to walk away. He stopped in his tracks and turned towards Tifa.

"Don't worry Tifa. I am going to bring him back and guys I am unfortunately not coming with you today. I have another thing to do."

Tifa nodded and smiled back while waving at him as well as Barret and his team.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

Zack examined the area trying to find any sight of Cloud. He gritted his teeth. **_That bastard!_ ** He was trying to run away! When he would have him in his hand he would teach him a lesson. He sighed and killed once again some monsters that got in his way. Those were indigenous here as Zack remembered so he wasn't in that high alert as he would have been.

His eyes widened. As Barret had said he was an idiot. If they were monsters here this meant that Cloud hadn't come this way. As he remembered also some of the old aged monsters were hiding when they saw Cloud making Zack confused. Why did they hide when they saw him and only him? The young ones naturally attacked Cloud but not the older ones. So those monsters must have encountered Cloud before. And for them to be afraid to the point of hiding meant that Cloud must have done something serious to them.

So that implied that if he searched for a place that didn't have monsters, Cloud would be near there. He jumped with ease some debris and looked around. Sure enough, he noticed some dead monsters that he was sure he hadn't killed. He went there and examined them. Bloodhounds, young ones. **_Bingo_ **.

Zack walked the path that he thought lead to Cloud and sure enough, after some time he saw something gold shining in the sun. He came closer and sighed happily. He had found Cloud. He was in an open area and he was looking up at a building. After a while, his head moved down and Cloud moved his hands to his sides. He was angry at something. After some time, he raised his head and examined the building. With that Zack had enough and stepped in the area shouting Cloud's name.

"Cloud!"

Cloud didn't turn around to face him but Zack could tell that Cloud had heard him. He wasn't swinging as he did before clearly frozen in place. Knowing that he had fucked up.

"Zack." Cloud addressed him with his robotic tone.

"Don't _Zack_ me! What are you doing here?"

Cloud didn't answer still frozen in place.

"You were thinking of running away, did you?" Zack's voice cracked in the end but he didn't care.

"I was...." Cloud started to say but Zack interrupted him again.

"After all this....after all this, we had encountered together you will leave us. _All of us_ . Are you so coldhearted, Cloud? Hmmm... **_answer me!_ **"

Cloud didn't say anything so Zack continued.

"All the things you said about doing this together was for nothing. You will just throw all this away? _Ummm, Cloud!_ " Zack screamed at him.

"What you mean for **nothing**!" Cloud shouted back as he turned to face Zack.

Zack bit his lips and mocked Cloud. " _Ah, we would do this together. Don't be afraid, we got this!_ All this was shit!"

Cloud watched him while his face turned from mad to concerned. "Zack! I meant all this!"

"Then what are you doing you, hypocrite! _You are going away!_ "

"Zack I was...."

" **STOP!** Stop lying to me! Be honest for a god damn second!"

"Zack stop! I am trying to talk to you!"

"Oh really? The way I see it is that you try to stop me from saying the truth! _Cloud, I know you!_ You are fucking hiding for me! Even after all these things we have been through, I can still read you like an open book! Something is happening and I am not a part of it!"

" _Zack! Stop!_ " Cloud shouted at him while holding his bracelet.

" **Shut up!** Stop thinking for a god damn second and just talk to me! Just act! Don't be an emotionless brick! Be honest!"

"I...."

"Yes, see? Stop and just let it out! Be honest!"

" **I FUCKING BETRAYED** you ok!" Cloud yelled at Zack and Zack stopped talking.

Cloud was looking down at his feet yet his voice finally had the emotion that Zack had known to have. By the shaking, Zack could also tell that Cloud or was crying or was trying to stop crying.

"I fucking betrayed you. I _lied_ to you. Fuck I can even lie right now! I don't know how to stop it..."

"Cloud..." Zack went closer to Cloud and reached his hand to touch him only for Cloud to backtrack and look at him. His eyes were wet like he was about to cry.

"No! _You listen!_ Just **FUCKING** listen. I lied to you! I can't remember who I am. I don't remember what I was. I can't behave the way I did. I am **NOTHING!** I don't deserve your honesty and I don't deserve your kindness. **_I deserve nothing!_ **" Cloud yelled at him.

"That's not true. You deserve the best!"

" **_Shut up!_ ** Why do you keep doing this? Why you are doing this? Why don't you hate me?"

"Why should I hate you, Cloud? You have done nothing to deserve hate from me."

"Then you don't know me, Zack! I did everything for you to almost lose your life! I did everything to you to almost become a monster! I did all of those and I am still lying to you and I get this in return."

"Cloud..." Zack breathed out as Cloud continued.

"No! _I am lying to you Zack_ , don't you get it! I am saying that I was a SOLDIER because that what my memories say and yet I contradict everything around me. I keep saying that I knew stuff and had walked around paths closed to everyone and yet **EVERYTHING** is a lie."

" **CLOUD!** You are confused!" Zack yelled at Cloud who stopped and watched him. "You are just confused. This.... this poisoning was too much for you! It hurt you. Not because you are weak but because of your allergy to mako. And that causes all these things. And because we went to a place that the supposed radioactivity was actually mako in high volumes. So, you might have consumed some without knowing making you lose control. Your memories must have also been mixed with... the Jenova cells they put in us and you must remember what he remembered."

Zack stared at his feet. "I _overreacted_ yesterday because I was worried and I had forgotten your history. Or what had happened at us... I should have known that talking to you like this was not the proper way. _I am sorry_ . **I truly am.** I was an ass and I mattered my panic rather your health above everything. I should have been more gentle."

Zack looked up at Cloud with more confidence and offered him a gentle smile. "But now I know. Now I remember what I must do. You were helping me and the thing I did in return was to make you worried and at the end anxious. _I am sorry._ But now I am here. I am here to offer back that help you have been given me. _Cloud_ ... I know this hurt, _I truly do_. So that's why I will help you."

Cloud watched Zack and after a while, he looked away. He still was holding his bracelet. Zack noticed that the light was back at it. He ignored it when Cloud turned back at him and he saw a single tear running down his cheek.

"I...I don't want to remember." He gently whispered back at Zack breaking his heart.

Zack closed his eyes, understanding what Cloud was feeling. "Then don't! Don't remember. _Be this Cloud._ **Be wolfie!** Be the person who lives today and when you want to try again I will be here. This time I will be there."

Cloud nodded slowly. He looked at his bracelet and then back at Zack.

"I...want to be this Cloud. I want to be wolfie!" Cloud cracked a smile at Zack who in returned grinned back at him feeling himself crying.

"Of course, wolfie!" After a while, he spoke again. "I will not say anything to anyone on what you were. Until you are sure about what you want to do, I will play along. Does anyone..."

"You and Tifa." Cloud said.

Zack nodded and wiped his tears with his hands. He felt weird and slowly lifted one up only to see that...he wasn't wearing any gloves.

"Oh shit."

"What?" Cloud asked him and then he noticed Zack's hands. "Why aren't you wearing any gloves?"

"I might...got anxious and ran away without wearing them..." He gave Cloud an awkward smile.

Cloud grimaced at him. "How on Gaia, a first-class SOLDIER, forgot to wear his gloves while he knows that he might use his sword?"

Zack put his hand behind his neck. "Well, I was worried. I didn't see you there and I ran off trying to find you."

Cloud smirked at him. "And what a great work detective. I must be here for one hour!"

"Shut up! Nevermind just let's go back to our room and I will wear them."

Cloud grimaced at that and he turned his back at him, examining yet again the building above him. "I am not going back."

Zack stopped in his track on the way home and slowly returned at his previous position. "What? _Come on Cloud!_ I thought we figured this out!"

Cloud answered. "We did. Still not coming. Stop pulling me."

"I am not..." Zack started to say as he lifted his head up to see Cloud, only to stop.

There on Cloud's arm, a cloud of white smoke was circling it. Cloud hadn't noticed or at least hadn't seen it. Then when Zack started to come closer, the smoke got away from Cloud's arm and moved above his shoulder when it formed into... the white Whisper that Zack saw yesterday.

"Thanks. Was that too hard to stop, Zack? Either way, I am..." Cloud had turned back to face Zack while the Whisper was floating above his head.

With that, Zack pulled Cloud by the arm.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"Hey, what the fuck Zack!" Cloud shouted at Zack as he went straight to his chest.

Zack didn't respond and just looked ahead making Cloud confused. So he turned back and his eyes widened. There was a white Whisper watching them both. Yet it didn't do anything but just floating around the same place.

"You again!" Zack barked at it and Cloud stared at him.

"You have seen that before?" 

Zack eyed him confused. " **_What the fuck, Cloud!_ ** It was touching your arm! You didn't notice?"

Cloud moved his hand up. "My arm?" Cloud questioned himself while Zack pulled out his sword ready to strike it.

Yet, Cloud touched his shoulder and shook it making Zack's attention turned to him.

"Stop, Zack! This thing...Whisper was the one that helped me!"

"Helped...you?" Zack pulled down his sword looking at Cloud.

Cloud nodded and looked again at his arm. "You said that it touched my arm right now, right? This warmth...I have felt it before...yesterday! The person who moved me into the highway was that Whisper! I also remember something white moving around my vision but I had fallen asleep."

Zack's eyes moved between the Whisper and Cloud and after a while, he put his sword behind his back.

"So you must be one of the good kinds, huh?" Zack told the Whisper while it continued floating around.

"But, how you couldn't see it and I can?" Zack asked and Cloud didn't answer.

Instead, the white Whisper started to move unsteadily and finally, it flew above them and away. Both of them watched it go.

"That is not a Whisper. That was a Dynater. The exact opposite of a Whisper. And only specific people can see it."

Someone started to talk and both of them turned towards the sound. There were Cloud was standing before was the red hooded man that Cloud had seen several times before. Zack pulled without hesitation his sword and moved to attack the man, only for Cloud to block his attack with his sword.

" **Cloud!** What are you doing?" Zack asked Cloud who pushed the sword towards making Zack move back.

"Zack! This is what I was trying to say to you but you kept interrupting me. I wasn't trying to leave. I was waiting for my customer." Cloud put his sword back and after a while, Zack did also.

"Then why didn't you tell me?"

Cloud closed his eyes as he crossed his hands and sighed. The hooded man laughed and pointed at Zack.

" _Zack Fair!_ I am truly thrilled to see you! Still, the same idiot!"

Zack's eyes turned cold. "What are you saying, old man? Do I know you?"

The man laughed. "Oh, you know me. But you always ended up kissing my ass!"

Zack gritted his teeth. "Say that you again you _little shit_ and I will see who kiss better."

"Hoho, a challenge. Nice! I accept!" The man said and started to head towards Zack who did also.

Cloud put his sword in between them stopping them and cleared his mouth. 

"You said that only specific people could see the Dynater. So, how can I see it?"

The man smiled at him. "Oh yes, my apologies. Dynaters are a white soulless figure of smoke. Their job is unknown but some said just because they are the opposite of Whispers, their job is to change destiny than help put it back in its course. So if they are bad or good is up to you. To me, they are doing god's job! Also, only specific people can see them. They are invisible until someone who can see them makes contact with another person..."

"But the Turks could see them?" Zack asked confused making Cloud eyed him.

"The Turks?"

Zack watched him and then he smiled at him. "Ah, yes I encountered the Turks in my way on finding you. I will tell you later."

Cloud nodded still staring Zack while the man continued talking.

"True. If you want to learn something, stop interrupting, and listen. _Odin!_ You haven't changed **_at all._ ** Anyhow, the one that can see them must not wear anything when they touch the other person. You must have touched the others before so that's why."

The man ignored the pout Zack did and Zack looked at his hand. "So, if I was wearing gloves..."

Then the man nodded. "Then Cloud wouldn't see it. It makes me curious though. You have touched others without gloves and your boyfriend never. _Ah, that's betrayal!_ " The man laughed as Zack walked towards him ready to fight him. 

" _He is not my_ **_boyfriend!_ **" He yelled at him and the man moved his hands in front of his face.

"Oh, I am sorry! Then why Cloud was looking at you like you have cheated on him when you mentioned the Turks!"

Cloud brushed even more at that and averted his gaze when Zack turned to look at him.

"You are here for a job I remember?" Zack said ignoring everything.

The man laughed even more. "Oh, that's it? Not good comebacks? Well, you were never good at comebacks anyway. Anyhow, that Dynater even though had appeared to you, it appeared to have a liking to Cloud. Hmm, after all, I said, I wonder why."

That made Zack stare coldly at him again and the man smirked.

"Oh, jealous. Well, you should be! It can take your boyfriend away! It actually had done that before!" 

That made Zack punched the man, only for him to disappeared and reappeared some meters away. He smirked back at Zack and then at Cloud who had still a flush over his face.

"As the pup said, I am here for the job."

"How you know what those are? And how you know what we did yesterday?" Zack barked at him.

The man smirked again. "Oh, I just know. You will get your answer later. Either way, Cloud here is your payment." The man eyed the materia in his hands.

Zack turned his head at Cloud and looked confused. "You have done the job? And only to get a gravity materia for a reward?"

Cloud didn't answer because the man spoke again. "This will excite you or... it will be painful." 

And with that, he threw the materia at Cloud who caught it and immediately felt its power.

_Cloud knew this place. He had walked this place before. The land of creation. Where everything started. He remembered the exact words that were told to him when he had walked around this place._

**_7 seconds._ **

_Cloud hadn't moved from his place cursing at what he had done. What he had accomplished. The pain he had done and made everyone suffer. He looked around at the empty planet only for his eyes to stop at something._

**_Sephiroth._ **

_Sephiroth smirked at him and slowly but steadily raised his hands in front of him. He opened his hand and waited for Cloud to come. On his other hand, he held Masanume and let it touched the ground knowing that he would not need it anymore. Cloud stared at him and then at his wrist._

_Where his bracelet was supposed to be and yet it wasn't there anymore. The only thing he saw was the string that was starting at his wrist and with his eyes, he tried to follow it until...at one point ended without someone at the end. Was there supposed to be someone there? Waiting for him?_

_Cloud didn't care and watched the string moved with wind completely heavy with emotions that Cloud couldn't understand. He wanted to pull the string away to stop the pain he felt yet he couldn't. He could only watch it, play with it. He held it with his other hand and tried to see the color but he couldn't see what it was. With that, he raised his head and looked again at Sephiroth. Who was waiting for him._

_Cloud moved steadily and slowly almost painfully towards him and every step he did, he felt his heart getting heavier, ready to break. His mind was confused and almost silent to the point that he couldn't think. He breathed heavily as he was getting closer and closer feeling reassurement for that hand._

_"Well done Cloud."_

_Cloud heard someone talking but he didn't care who. With the last will, he still had he moved his hand up._

Cloud breathed in and started to cough at how violent he did it. He felt his eyes watering and after a whole, he could hear, Zack screaming his name.

" **Cloud!** Ah, Cloud! I was shaking you but your eyes were unfocused! **Cloud!** "

Cloud nodded to show that he was hearing Zack. Zack breathed out happily and relieved.

"Shit, Cloud. You didn't respond! What did you do?"

"I..." He started to speak when he noticed that in his hand he still had the materia.

He eyed it for a while as well as the man near him. 

"That's weird. It should have disappeared."

"What? This thing?" Zack said and took the materia from Cloud hand.

Cloud tried to stop him only for the materia to flash and Zack's eyes went unfocused while he was staring at the materia.

"Ah, that's why."

Cloud watched Zack and then the man. "What happened?"

"It appears that that materia even though made for you can affect Zack too. Well, the string plays a role in this. The previous one was not in that nature since Zack was asleep. Let me tell you the threats I got from him was priceless!" He laughed.

"So when we use that materia that happens?" Cloud gestured at Zack. 

"Yep. You stay frozen until it stops. Until that idiot returns, tell me what was in your mind?"

Cloud showed the bracelet in his wrist. "The string?"

The man nodded. "What that boy said was true. All of it. In your place, I would ask him again for a redo since you forgot something important." He smirked.

"What... _about Sephiroth?_ "

The man went silent for a second. "Some of his words hold truth some not. You must find the way."

"So, is this true? We are cursed and this..." He gestured at his bracelet. "...Just helps to change the destiny and I have a time limit."

The man nodded. "You have a time limit which is also unknown to me. The materia you carry is also something I don't know since that materia's magic changes every day. I only know that every time you use it it takes so much mako from you and also changes fate."

Cloud grimaced. So what Wedge said was true and what Sephiroth told him was a half-truth. He sighed. He didn't know what to do.

"I can help in some parts." The man laughed at how fast Cloud turned to look at him.

"Yes, but let's wait for your dumbass friend." 

After a while, he heard Zack breathed in. Cloud went near him and held his shoulder for support. Zack then looked at his hand as the materia stared to turn into ashes and disappeared from his hand. He looked serious and his mouth was a straight line. Cloud was ready to say his name when Zack talked.

_"Are you an Ancient?"_

The man's mouth turned into a straight line and then he smiled. "Not exactly. I am close to them."

Zack nodded again. He then studied Cloud. "What are you waiting for? Give him what he asked for."

Cloud watched him confused while he pulled out the documents. Zack glanced at then and nodded to himself.

"Experiment G. Of course. Were you of the many candidates?"

The man took the documents from Cloud and smiled weakly at Zack. "I was. I was a failure to them since I didn't end up like everyone else. Since I had some genuine cells on me and not the other ones."

Zack nodded smiling also weakly. "That will help you?"

The man smirked. "Oh, you have no idea! This will give me the main role of what is about to come and do my part."

"I see..."

"Zack?" Cloud addressed Zack worried about the sudden change of character. Zack moved his hand.

"I am fine....but tell me. Was that the future?"

Cloud eyed the man and cursed under his breath on why he hadn't asked that before. The man laughed at that.

"Oh, you are suddenly a smartass? Well, yes that was the future the Memory materia showed you. Both of you had different visions of the future."

"Different?" Zack asked ignoring who the man called him.

"Yep. Meaning that each one saw a different period on the future that comes ahead of us."

" _Can we_ ... _can we_ change it?"

The man smirked again. "...what do you think?"

"Judging the Whispers being here and the Dynater means that...yes we can." Zack said with more confidence.

The man nodded. "Yep, you can. Since something happened that wasn't supposed to, the Whispers try to make destiny follow its course."

"What had happened that wasn't supposed to?" Cloud asked.

Yet the man didn't answer but started to walk around.

"The destiny plays an important role in his hands."

"His?" Cloud asked the man who turned and nodded at him.

"Yes, his." He looked at both of them and then his head turned to Zack. "Hell, I can tell you that. Sephiroth is alive!"

With that, Zack gasped and grabbed the man's cloak. "Don't lie to us! I saw him die by Cloud's hands!"

But the man started to laugh. "Oh, he was supposed to..."

Zack's eyes widened and then his head turned back and front between Cloud and the hooded man. "No..."

"Sephiroth was supposed to die! Yet he didn't changing everyone's destiny!" The man shouted at them.

"You mean that Sephiroth is alive." Zack said and the man nodded.

"As alive as he can be. That monster as you know from the documents G and J was a fully created man that had Jenova cells in him as well as too much mako making unbreakable. When Cloud threw him with his sword, he fell inside the lifestream of this planet making him a semi God! With that, he can appear and disappear with will without a problem. He can be here and ends us all in one swing yet he doesn't. He wants something else."

"Something else?" Cloud asked.

"Yes. He wants to become a God and for him to achieve that he needs more of the life force of this planet. And for that, he will create a wound on this planet that will make it try to heal it." 

"And that will be?" Zack asked finally letting the man down on his feet.

"A meteor. He will bring a meteor."

Zack and Cloud didn't say anything trying to process everything they heard.

"Can't we stop him?" Zack asked and the man turned his back at them.

"You? No. But someone can. Someone that had battled Sephiroth before in full psycho moment when he had accidentally consumed more mako that his body needed."

Zack gasped "Wolf!"

The man turned and nodded. "Yes! Wolf was the only one who could defeat Sephiroth in his worst and powerful moment. But that battle was a game and I know that this one will also be for Wolf. You know what makes Wolf special, right?"

Cloud opened his mouth but stopped. Yet Zack moved his hand on his shoulder and squeezed it showing Cloud that it was ok. So Cloud spoke.

"Wolf apart from being the second on command first SOLDIER he was one and the only that entered the SOLDIER program without any mako surgery. Making him the most powerful SOLDIER since everything he did was by his strength only and his understanding of mako capacity."

The man grinned. "Exactly. The exact opposite of Sephiroth. The other pole that could contradict and attack the other pole without a problem."

Zack looked at him with worry. "But Wolf has disappeared."

"Oh? Yes, he has. But as I remember he has disappeared in action, not declared dead!"

That made Zack's eyes shine. "You mean the real _Wolf_ is out there! **_Waiting?_ ** _"_

"Yep, and he is your best option on defeating Sephiroth. If only your only one."

"Hell yeah! We can find Wolf and see his real face and learn his name and take an autograph and..." Zack continued murmuring and had completely lost his focus on the conversation 

"But we don't know where he is." Cloud questioned and the man looked at Zack.

"Maybe you don't. But the thing that Zack holds in his pocket is his answer."

Zack looked at him surprised at first and then he proceeded on taking out what he had in his pocket. He took out a Key for Sector 5 gate.

"The red lion?" Zack asked the man and he nodded.

"Red lion?" Cloud asked Zack who moved his hands that showed that he would explain everything later. Cloud rolled his eyes.

"Yep. He knows valuable information for your search of Wolf. And he might be the only one who can help you. Your search is out of Midgar not here. And you can only follow that path to change everything back to how it was supposed to be."

"So everything we saw can be changed?" Zack asked more enthusiastic than before.

The man nodded. "Yes. Everything. And perhaps if you kill Sephiroth, even the things that are bound to him..." The man showed his wrist at Cloud. "...will be destroyed."

Cloud's eyes shined as he saw his wrist. When the string broke then the one that was lost in the darkness would become Sephiroth's puppet. But if he was dead then...the string would not have any meaning. Cloud grinned finally finding a solution to his problem and nodded at the man, thanking him. 

"Everything now is set to you to follow or sit through. What you decide is up to you. Until then, I will be here guiding you."

The man said and after Cloud had blinked, he had disappeared. Cloud continued looking at his wrist feeling more confident than before and he finally smiled without worries.

" _Well, destiny awaits us!_ " Cloud shouted with confidence at Zack who blinked out his surprise and smiled.

"So, let's move and face it." He said and offered his hand at Cloud.

Cloud held it and smiled back. _They could do this._

**"Let's face it together!"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> (1) Cloud had used his materia in his bracelet and that took so much mako power from him and thats why he has none. I have said or Cloud said it that this materia is a heavy one. 
> 
> Also, my exams have started :( so It will take some time for the next update. I wanted to finish this one so I wouldn't leave you in a cliffhanger and it turned really well. So until then!
> 
> Also, what do think thus far? Have you found out what is happening?
> 
> Until the next time.


	9. The Journey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, everyone! I finished my exams. Until now we have good grades and that made my writing move forward so easily.
> 
> This chapter turned nicesly and since from this point and forward we start the journey. It will follow the same path as the original but also some things will change.
> 
> This one was a joy to write!!!
> 
> So have fun!!!

"So are you saying that we are going outside! _Outside Midgar_?"

"I never said _'we'_! I meant me and Cloud and yes!"

Zack shouted back at Barret while he was watching him behind the counter of Seventh Heaven. Zack with the permission of Tifa had gone to make a drink while Barret had followed him until the counter and had sat in one of the stools. Cloud was sitting on one of them as well as Aerith, and Tifa was inside her counter and watched the conversation unfold.

Wedge, Jessie and Biggs were sitting back at one of the tablets and while they had tried to stop Barret from starting a fight, they gave up and sat to see what would happen. Cloud continued drinking his Cosmo Canyon and Barret next to him hit the counter making Tifa grimaced at the motion.

"So, you will leave everything you built here such as a reputation and a steady income?"

Zack sighed as he made his own drink. "If it means for a better tomorrow then yes!"

" _Unbelievable!_ And I thought you were different than the EX-SOLDIER here!" Barret gestured at Cloud who just watched Barret unbothered.

"Look, man, if you let me explain what I want to say without interrupting me every second, I would appreciate it!" Zack said as he turned to face Barret as he had made his drink.

"Hear what, hedgehog! You are telling me that you will leave Midgar while we have shit to do?"

"Let me clear that for you! We never entered Avalanche! We are mercs and we do this kind of jobs!"

"Then tell me you shithead, why you accept them if you don't care about the planet and the payment is shit!"

"Oh, so you admit it! The payment is shit! We deserve more!"

"Shut up, you cross head! Stop changing the subject and tell me your reasoning! Why you leave this town!"

"Because staying put will accomplish nothing and at the very end we will lose everything!"

"To **_what?_ ** Give me the reason!"

Zack eyed him as he drank his drink in one sip. He twitched a little as the alcohol touched his mouth but he continued his conversation like he hadn't stopped.

"To something that will destroy our planet! For Ifrit's sake, why are you such a dick! Why you want us here? You were doing just fine before we came."

_"This is personal!"_

Zack pointed at Barret. " _Bullshit!_ But nevermind. All I wanted to say was that a mission had been given to us. Cloud and me. Which is outside Midgar. And **WHAT** I wanted to say before the bullet man stopped me was that we need to take it. Need to accomplish. Because if we don't something bad will happen."

"And all I asked for was _the reason!_ " Barret continued as he crossed his arms.

"I can't say it!" Zack watched as Barret sighed.

"So are you saying that you will leave us and probably give our names to Shinra to hunt us!"

"What in the name of Ifrit! I never said that!" Zack shouted at Barret.

"Then tell me the damn reason or else I will name you traitors! Even, after all we have been through!"

Zack smirked at him. " Ah, you care about us."

"Like hell I am!"

"The words I hear are the words of someone who cares and can't let go! And I know that whatever are you saying you would do, you would never do it."

Barret eyed him and hit the counter again. "Shut up you buffoon! All I ask was a fucking reason...you can't just walk away!"

Zack came closer to Barret and smiled. He put his hands in the counter and nodded.

"I understand. But even if I tell you the reason that we are forced to leave, you will call me a liar."

Barret sighed making Jessie gasped behind surprised. Barret had stopped, forgetting his anger. A rare sight to all the Avalanche team who was watching Barret with widened eyes and open mouths. Cloud turned his face to see him.

"Even if I call you a truther, a liar, or anything... I will at least have my reason. You are a part of my team even if you don't feel one. You are but...well, haha, it is still early for our team to dispatch."

"Oh, I see..." Zack grinned at him. "Thank you...from both us for thinking we are a team. I never meant to say that since technically we are not Avalanche members but a part of them."

"Well, damn sure you are in our team whatever name you want to have."

Zack nodded and then looked at Cloud. Cloud watched him and after a while, he nodded. Zack turned to Barret.

"We are after someone who wants to hurt the planet. Someone that you all probably know. "

Barret nodded and waited. "Come on hit me. They can be that ridiculous for me to call you a liar."

Zack backtracked some steps and looked up at the ceiling avoiding eye contact.

" _Sephiroth..._ "

After he had said that everyone on the bar froze. Barret eyed Zack as well as Tifa. Jessie, Wedge and Biggs were looking at each other with worry and Aerith had looked down watching her hands. Cloud continued drinking his Cosmo Canyon and watched Tifa's reaction as it turned from mad to thinking. After some time, Barret stood up from the stool and froze in that position while looking at the counter.

"Even after I told you my reasoning and I spoke to you with my heart, I get this! _Damn you both of you!_ This is not funny! **FUCK YOU!** " Barret yelled at Zack and he hit the counter for emphasis.

He pointed at Zack who was watching him unable to say anything. " **Fuck you!** That's all I can say for you bastards! I know trusting you was a mistake. You could **SAY** anything but you decided to lie to me once more! **Fuck you!** "

"You got it all wrong Barret..." Zack started to say as he approached Barret who immediately moved away from the counter.

"Yes! Trusting you was wrong! Sephiroth is dead! We all know that! And you come and say this in front of me!" He shouted at Zack. After that, he walked towards the door and stood there. "Come one let's leave these clowns." He said at Jessie, Wedge and Biggs.

But they continued watching him without standing up. That made Barret face them and moved his hands.

"What are you waiting for? An invitation? _Come one!_ "

But no one said anything. Instead, they stood up and walked...towards the counter and sat on the stools surprising everyone in the bar, including Cloud. Cloud examined each and everyone and saw determination in their eyes something he had seen before. As they had sat down, they turned their faces to Barret who had turned and watched them also surprised.

"What the hell are you doing?" He barked at them and they didn't answer immediately.

Instead, they nodded between them and Jessie was the one who talked. 

"We are on this side!"

"Oh, are we picking sides now? What the hell are you doing! This is not a game!"

"Barret! Listen!" Wedge pleaded as he merged his hands together.

"I think Zack is right!" Biggs said making Barret yelled again at them.

" **Right!** Are you nuts? Listen to what you saying!"

"No, listen what are you saying!" Jessie yelled back at him but Barret continued.

"Sephiroth is dead you all! He is dead! I heard it with my own ears and is dead for 5 whole years! What are you saying is stupid!"

"Barret! We went to a factory yesterday!" Biggs interrupted him and Barret stopped.

"We went to see my mom and how my dad was doing and an Avalanche team found us. They asked if we could tackle along in a mission and we went with them!" Jessie continued.

"As we were going, we found the guards in their stations...dead! Not asleep!" Wedge shouted and looked at Cloud for a split second.

"So we all were in a high alert until we found some soldiers. And those were talking with Heidegger. And he told them to be in high alert!" Biggs continued.

"And that high alert was not for us but...for someone who was sighted there!" Jesse shouted and Barret crossed his arms.

"So, you are telling me that the person who was sighted was Sephiroth! _Bullshit!_ "

"No, it isn't!"

"As Wedge said, it isn't since..." Jessie started but she stopped.

"Since?" Barret mocked her and Wedge yelled.

"We saw him!"

Barret watched him not knowing how to answer but after a while, he murmured.

"Bullshit!"

Jessie hit the counter and shouted. "Bullshit to you! I saw him with my two eyes walking in one of the catwalks!

"As I did!" Both Wedge and Biggs said.

"So are you telling me that you saw him walking there and I need to believe you! All I can say to you is that you might tell lies to me also since you were murmuring behind me!"

"No, we are not Barret! _Odin!_ Please hear us!" Wedge said.

"We saw him I am damn sure of it!" Biggs shouted and Barret shook his head.

"And magically none of the other Avalanche members saw him! Only you three. Is that right, _eh_? In that case wouldn't I have a report in that part!"

Jessie, Biggs and Wedge looked away defeated.

"We saw him, Barret believe us!" Wedge pleaded but Barret tsked at him.

"All of you are lying! It could be a Shinra propaganda, all I know and you would have fallen for it! Making us vulnerable! So, stop saying shit and I am done with...."

" **_Enough._ **" 

That voice was tough and held a power that made even Barret stopped talking. Everyone looked at the source of the voice. Cloud had finally finished his drink and had put it in the counter. He was the one that had spoken and slowly he rose up from his seat and walked towards Barret. Cloud eyed him and he opened his mouth.

"Aren't you a leader, Barret?"

"What this had to do with ever...." Barret started staying but Cloud's voice was higher with power silencing him completely.

" _Aren't you a leader_ , Barret?" He said not losing tempo and Barret nodded.

"Is that so? Then why I don't see one!" He said calmly making Barret angry but Cloud spoke again.

"A leader is a heavy duty. He helps his team to victory. But he also guides his team as a part of it. _Not above it!_ He helps them, leads them but importantly he hears them. Even if all they are saying is wrong, all are saying is stupid, he hears them until the end. He tries to understand them as well as tries to help them through their journey. _And all I saw now was_ **_nothing!_ ** You called yourself a leader Barret, _hmm_? Then why don't you listen to your members without interrupting them, without downsizing them? Without hearing their reasoning!" 

"You didn't. All I saw was that you gave them commands. Commands that they don't follow and you immediately yelled at them. I get that you are emotionally charged and I am sure that most of those things you said, you didn't mean them but that is not something a leader must be possessed by. He puts his emotions back when he sees that his team is hurting and tries to help them. He leads them until the time he can finally show his emotions without regret."

Cloud watched Barret who looked away from him not knowing how to respond so Cloud continued.

"I know you meant well but right now put your feelings away and focus on what they said. They saw Sephiroth. All of them. It would be as you said a lie if only one of them saw him but all three is something you are considering. _They had proof!_ And they heard the official Shinra head of safety, Heidegger saying that. But also seeing him makes this a solid proof. So perhaps Sephiroth is alive. Now as you said you also heard that Sephiroth is dead." 

"Now, where did you hear that? _On the tv?_ I am sure that you heard it there. So, I am asking you this? Wouldn't this be also a Shinra propaganda since the tv is operating for Shinra?"

Cloud asked Barret who looked away and turned around and showed his back at him. But he answered.

"It could be."

"Exactly. It could be. I am not denying the fact that I also thought that he had died. But seeing him also..." That made Barret turn and face him. "...made me realize the mistake I did. **He is alive.** I faced him while we had been separated from the first mission and you waited for me on the train. _I saw him._ Now, I am not denying the fact that you still don't want to believe us and I don't blame you. I can't change that but I wanted you to hear that."

Cloud stopped and watched Barret as well as he also did. Aerith broke the akward silence.

"I also saw him."

"You did?" Tifa asked.

Aerith nodded and crossed her hands like she was praying. "I did... as a vision. This might be laughable but...I saw him. And I know that he didn't mean well."

"Well, seeing you stop that lion by just touching it, makes me think that you have superpowers so I can say that this is also something." Wedged gave her a thumbs up encouraging her to which Aerith smiled.

"Thank you. I know this is something that you all think crazy but to me...is crucial to who I am." She turned to Cloud. "I will say that when I hear what I want to hear but believe me that what I am saying is true."

Cloud simply nodded. "I will. Since why would you see someone that you don't know and have never faced at all if it is not a vision. And I will wait for the moment." He said while Aerith's smile held relief.

Cloud turned again at Barret. "You have been hurt before and I don't care or ask for the story. But hear me when I say this. Sephiroth is here and I know for a fact that he wants to hurt the planet." Cloud looked at his bracelet. "So, Zack and I need to go and try to stop him. Whatever you want to believe is up to you but we will do as we must."

"Then count me in!" Someone said and Cloud to face them.

Cloud stared at Tifa who had come closer to the counter.

"Tifa..."

"This is something that you can't stop me from doing. It is my decision to come. I...I will not sit here doing anything while I know that the one that took from us _everything_...our homes, our families, our lives can destroy our planet. I will not lose what I have gotten." She looked at her fist. "I will not lose what I have accomplished. My new home, my new job...my new family! I will not lose them again and no one will stop me for this!"

Cloud watched her as she talked and he held her fist showing that he understood her meaning. Tifa examined him and after a while, she nodded. Aerith was the next one that talked.

"I will also come. And you can also not stop me from doing this since...what that man wants is something that doesn't belong to him. He needs to be stopped by any means necessary! _I will follow!_ "

Cloud stared at her and then he sighed. "I know that everything I say is little and I can't convince anyone to do otherwise. It will be hard but...having extra help never hurt anybody. Still, I don't agree but I can't stop you."

Aerith smirked at him and Tifa held his hand that was above from hers. She smiled back with relief. Zack nodded next to her with a big smile covering his face but it turned upside down when he saw the new conversation unfold.

"Barret." Jessie started and Barret looked at her. "We don't blame you for anything and we know that you want us to be fine but..."

"You are not going anywhere." Barret spoke but Jessie eyed him surprised.

"Ah, no. That's not what I wanted to say." She said and Biggs spoke.

" _We want_ **_you_ ** _to go!_ " 

That made Barret froze in place and he stared at them. Then he shouted. "What are you saying you dumbass!"

"You heard him all right! We want you to go and help them!" Jessie spoke and Wedge continued.

"If this means that you will help the planet then it is enough! Your power is something that they will need more than us!"

"But I..."

"We can handle ourselves. We had the best teacher and we can continue our work here while you are outside. Nothing will stop. Your potential is wasted here if the greatest risk of this planet is out waiting for you!" Jessie shouted and Wedge, Biggs nodded.

"I can't just leave you here! I can't leave Marlene here and fight someone I know I will not win! I can't just leave! You are dumbasses!"

"My mom would take care of her! She will be safe there...trust me! She will be ok and safe." Aerith interrupted him and Barret looked at her. He shook his head.

"I am not going anywhere! You are stupid to believe I would follow this suicide mission just because!"

Biggs nodded. "I understand that. It is. But...Barret, this is something you are called to do. You had said that when something more important rose you would follow it. Why don't you?"

Barret didn't say anything so Cloud did.

"You are afraid." 

Barret gritted his teeth. "Because I am afraid, _ok._ This is something I don't know how to do and at the very end, it will backfire and kill us all. I have a responsibility to do. That was given to me and I can't just let it go."

Jessie nodded. "I understand. You have a family. That's important to you. I never said the opposite. But...all I ask you is to reconsider."

Barret shook his head. "I refuse."

Jessie nodded, defeated. "I accept it."

Wedge turned to Cloud. "But as Barret said, would that be suicide since you know... _Sephiroth is unstoppable_?"

But Zack was the one that answered it. "Well, actually our mission is not to face him into battle but find the one that can and had defeated him."

Wedge eyes shined. ".. **.Wolf?** "

Zack nodded and before he said anything Barret talked.

"Wolf had disappeared, isn't that right?"

Zack was taken back by the sudden change of tone on Barret's voice but answered. "He had but he was never reported dead. Only missing in action in the official reports I read."

Barret nodded and finally walked towards the counter next to Cloud.

" _Then count me in._ "

That made Zack jumped a little and everyone to look at him shocked.

" **What?** You want to go with them?" Biggs asked surprised and Barret nodded.

" _Just liked that?_ " Jessie continued and Barret nodded again.

Cloud eyed him and then he nodded himself. "Did...this change of heart happen because of Wolf?"

Barret watched him and he finally smiled. "You are surprisingly clever EX-SOLDIER boy...yes. _It is Wolf._ "

Wedge asked. "But why?"

Barret smiled again and took his sunglasses off.

"If this mission is to find someone that not only he can save us but also help the planet then I accept it without a second thought! I have actually met Wolf. I am sure some of you did since he had come here in Midgar and had walked around but...I hadn't met him the easy way."

"Easy way?" Tifa asked as she had walked closer to Aerith.

"Yes. I own everything to Wolf. So I will help with all my power to help him back. Even if that means trying to find him."

"Did he do something? You have never answered the question Tifa asked." Jessie responded to which Barret looked at the ceiling and smiled.

"He saved my life! I own my life to him."

"What? You never told us that!" Biggs said and Barret nodded.

"That's true."

"So what are you waiting for!" Jessie said and everyone nodded.

He smiled and looked at his sunglasses. "It was actually my first ever mission as an Avalanche member. It must be a long time ago. When I had come here, Avalanche had approached me and asked me to join. Having a hatred towards Shinra it was a job that was meant for me. But while I was in the mission, everything went to shit! We only had the job to bomb a small pump that had double the power of sucking the mako out of Gaia. I and my partner then managed to do so and started to leave since the bomb then had twice the power."

"So we left but Shinra troopers found us. We fought them but my partner attacked me and let some of the metals that fall hit me. He didn't even turn to help he just ran. I was sure that I would die and Marlene would be alone. The troopers had managed to stop my partner but the remote that detonated the bomb was lost. Or so I thought since my partner had it and destroyed it in front of my eyes. He had said that he was a traitor to Avalanche since he was working for Shinra. So, he took one of the guns from one of the troopers and shoot the tubes above me. Trying to silence me. So I waited for death to come."

"Yet the only thing I felt was air rushing through my hair as well as hearing screams. The next thing I remember was opening my eyes and I realized that I was above the pump on a catwalk and I was sitting on it. Under me, I could see bodies lying dead as well the pile of tubes I was under just mere seconds ago. Then I felt something on my back and when I tried to point my gun at them, I noticed that my gun was blocked. The next thing, I felt was a sword near my neck, ready to cut it. Then I heard him...

_"Unexperienced?" Someone said calmly like he hadn't just killed an entire army._

_"...yes." Barret said noticing finally the sword._

_It was.... Wolf's sword! He watched as the gold materia on it moved around._ **_It was unbelievable_ ** _. He had never seen a gold materia in his life and watching it now in front of him was like a dream. What's more, he had met Wolf. But not the way he wanted to._

_"New?" He continued calmly._

_"...yes." Barret answered back._

_"You are not for Midgar?"_

_"That's...true."_

_He felt the sword moving away from him and Barret stood up and faced Wolf. He was exactly as everyone said he was and as he had seen him on tv. He was wearing a gray turtleneck without sleeves. The classic black trousers all SOLDIERS wore and on it, there was a belt with a lot of material. He wore black gloves so he could hold his sword with ease and in his right arm he had a black sleeve that started from his elbow towards the armpit. It had a different texture than the rest of the uniform. There was also a belt around his chest._

_But the thing that made Barret know who that person in front of him was the mask. It was like the usual mask that the other classes wore but the one that the person was wearing was in the shape of a wolf. A black wolf that had its eyes closed. On top of his head, there were two wolf's ears that were moving._

_Wolf raised his sword again and pointed it at Barret's neck. Barret was about to move but the sword moved instantly and was inches from cutting his neck. Wolf was warning him. Barret raised his hands unable to do anything else and looked at Wolf._

_"Are you a part of the new team that appeared...Avalanche?"_

_"How you know that?" Barret asked since he knew that the team was new so if Wolf knew who they were then they would be in a lot of trouble._

_The sword moved slightly so the blade was closer to the flesh. Barret understood what Wolf wanted so he said it._

_"Yes, I am."_

_"Letting a newbie go with the most mysterious person in the group must be a poor choice. Now...what exactly did you do?"_

_"And why the hell should I tell you that!" Barret barked at him but Wolf didn't twitch at all._

_"Your posture shows that you are a man with great power but your eyes tell a different story. They are kind and show that your fear is not about dying rather who are you leaving behind."_

_Barret moved slightly towards him as he gritted his teeth but Wolf held the sword higher and shook his head._

_"So, your choice. Or tell me or..."_

_"We put a bomb in the pump."_

_Wolf's ears moved back. "A bomb?"_

_"Yes, but both of us lost the remote and we can't activate."_

_Wolf after a while took the sword away from Barret's neck letting him breathe and Wolf nodded._

_"Good."_

_And then he put his sword up and moved his other hand on it turning it blue, surprising Barret. That was Wolf's trademark move. A move that you couldn't avoid. He tried to move his gun up but it was too late since Wolf slashed the air and the momentum carried the air making a blue line. Barret closed his eyes betrayed as he had heard that Wolf was an understanding man and yet he didn't show it._

_But what he heard next was different. He heard the bomb explode. He turned his face to the pump and saw it melted and slowly disappearing in the fire._

_"To tell you the truth I didn't think that you will go this far on destroying the pump but I am glad about it."_

_Wolf said with a cheerful voice surprising Barret yet again since just mere seconds ago he was talking with a low calm voice. Barret watched him as he put his sword behind his back and turned to him._

_"Why you are so calm?" Barret finally asked looking at Wolf "I am an enemy to Shinra! Why don't you kill me?"_

_Wolf smirked at him and his ears moved back slightly. "You want me to?"_

_"No, but..."_

_"Then don't ask questions that you don't want answers to."_

_"Then tell me...why you destroyed the pump? You are Shinra."_

_Wolf's ears moved back and he put his hands in his sides. "Even if I do work for Shinra that doesn't mean I follow their ideology. To tell you the truth I hate Shinra." He laughed making Barret even more confused but Wolf continued. "All I wanted was to become a SOLDIER and I did it. I was not after their propaganda. And yet I did it so I am trying to fix what I can."_

_"And by destroying the pump will that help you?" Barret asked._

_"Yes. Do you see the people down there?" Wolf pointed at Barret's partner and the other troopers._

_Barret nodded. Wolf continued._

_"Your partner was a traitor to you giving us or specifically someone the info on what you will do. That person is one of Hojo's helpers and I know that you know who that guy is. The only thing he wants is to hurt. People, animals, monsters. And now the planet. That's why they used those pumps. To destroy the planet slowly making it suffer. The thing that he only wants."_

_"So that's why you destroyed it."_

_Wolf nodded smiling. "Exactly. And I will tell you the truth that your plan must be influenced by me."_

_Barret's eyes widened. "So you are the one that destroyed the other pumps?" He basically shouted surprised and Wolf laughed._

_"Yes '_ **_by accident'_ ** _. So they must have followed my lead. I am not complaining. Yet the plan was poorly executed."_

_Barret put his hand behind his neck. "We tried but we couldn't find the way."_

_Wolf smiled again. "I see. Well then, let's go find your team."_

_"You...you will come with me?" Barret asked confused to which Wolf nodded._

_"Yes. But before this let me fix your gun a little quick before we head out." Wolf started to repair it. "Also, a word of wisdom. Don't show your eyes. They give away your character."_

_Barret nodded at him feeling relaxed. Wolf was more friendly now and a really kind man. As he was looking at his gun, he saw a handwritten code of numbers making him confused._

_"What...what is this?" He asked Wolf who smiled at him._

_"This something to remember me. I suggest you keeping them and holding onto them. Until we meet again." He winked and jumped over some debris waiting for Barret._

"...then we found my team and after this everything is history. The inside intel was actually Wolf who gave us information on various things. Also, the paintings of Spot was actually the roads he showed us so we can have safer trips. Drawing him as Spot was a joke to us since you know he was close to a canine.... and yet we got comfort from it. And as he had said, I never saw him again."

Barret finished his story and everyone watched him for a while. Jessie smiled at him and clapped her hands.

"Where is the code?"

"I ain't telling you!" Barret smiled making Jessie pouted.

"Come on! That basically an autograph from **The Wolf** and you are not going to show us? Where is it anyway I don't see it on you."

"Is somewhere safe and I only know where it is."

"Boo!" Jessie said and she laughed.

"So that's why you want to come?" Zack said making Barret look at him. Barret nodded.

"Yes. Wolf saved my life and knowing that he is out there waiting perhaps for this code is something that made me change my mind. I also know that he will anything to help us and defeat Sephiroth."

Zack nodded and then Tifa asked while looking down at her feet.

"Um...who is Wolf?" That made everyone stare at her. "I... I have heard stories but...um well."

Barret put his hand on her shoulder. "I don't blame ya. You weren't here when he was last seen walking around here."

"That's true. I have seen him a couple of times and he had also saved my life, literally. But he wasn't staying here for a long period." Zack continued thinking. Tifa asked him.

"Why?"

"Ummm... Cloud a little help?" Cloud watched Zack trying to put his memories in order.

At first, he was hesitant but Zack nodded at him. Letting him talk. Cloud took a big breath and said.

"Wolf was a first-class SOLDIER. He was the second on command after Sephiroth. He always wore his Wolf mask everywhere he went. His sword was the Twin Stinger and he had a unique gold materia and the only one in the world. What made him special was that he had never taken the procedure of a normal SOLDIER meaning had injected mako in his body. What he did was purely his power. He also had another unique ability which was exploiting and feeling mako around him. He took it and used it or pure or in his sword. He also knew how to use all his materia in the best option and sometimes he even mixed them creating new combats. Making him one of the best and fearsome SOLDIERS since he had also defeated Sephiroth in battle. But as I recall wasn't he..."

Zack nodded at Cloud as he continued. "Yep. After some time, he was chosen by Rufus Shinra, the son of President Shinra to be his bodyguard. That though didn't stop him from being out there helping people. But as I remember he was given a mission and all it said was where he would go and he would know what he would do. After that, he was reported missing. But now we know he is alive!"

Tifa nodded and smiled. "Wow, he sounds really cool."

Barret nodded. "He is Tifa!"

Biggs laughed. "Oh, we see the fanboy in you Barret." They laughed and Barret slapped him in the head.

"He really sounds like something else." Aerith said as she turned to Zack and smirked. "And I am sure that he is." She continued as she turned her head towards Cloud and smirked.

Cloud nodded at her making Aerith smiled again. Then Zack out of the blue cleared his throat making everyone watched him.

"Well, seeing that we are done..." He raised his hand in the air. "I vote for Cloud as our leader!"

Cloud eyed him dumbfounded by his words and as he turned he saw more raised hands in the air.

**_ What?  _ **

"Why are you raising your hand for? You will not come." Barret said at Jessie and Jessie winked at him.

"Yep! But that doesn't mean I can't vote in this part since as I recall I am in the team."

Barret rolled his eyes but he also raised his hand stunning Cloud.

" _Why?_ "

Zack smirked at him. "Well, seeing you just making everyone stop fighting and giving us that beautiful speech was enough for me to vote you. We need a leader to guide us out there. And I believe you are the best one to do that!"

Barret nodded. "Don't get me wrong. I want to be a leader. But I still don't have the best qualities for that just yet. Until then, I also believe you are the best SOLDIER boy! Don't think I am fluttering you!"

"Of course. I wouldn't believe that." Barret rolled his eyes again.

Seeing that everyone had voted for him to be a leader, he sighed at that believing that he wasn't one. But he wouldn't let them down. So he looked at them as he spoke.

"Very well. I will be the leader of this mission. I will tell you this again. This mission will be harsh and probably a long one but it is up to you what you will decide. Tomorrow morning we will leave Midgar so whatever you want to do before that is up to you. Until then, you all have this day to yourselves and after that, we will begin."

**_ -ooo-  _ **

Cloud climbed the ladder and sighed. He didn't think that he will spend his last day on Midgar with Zack. He didn't mind actually but he started to feel regret after he had climbed like the fifteen ladder this evening. He thought that they would go drink somewhere, have fun or just chill. But no they needed to do this trip to what Cloud didn't know will lead to. At this pace, he hoped for a massage or something to make him chill.

He rolled his eyes even more annoyed as he watched Zack jumping with excitement in the building the stood. Zack wanted them to go up but they didn't take the train as they should have and instead walked the worse way possible. Cloud was ready to struggle Zack for this.

"Soon!" Zack yelled at him as he walked at a catwalk that led to the next building.

"Aren't you tired at all?" Cloud asked showing his annoyance in his tone.

Yet Zack or didn't hear or he didn't comment on it. "Oh, don't get me wrong! I am damn tired! And we still have some ladders to climb so I am not looking forward to it."

"Then _why the fuck_ did we climbed them! _For fun!_ " Cloud yelled at him as he followed him.

Zack jumped over a small wall and eyed Cloud. "Are you angry?"

Cloud tsked. "Oh, what gave you the impression that I am!"

Zack rolled his eyes. "A hitch." And he continued moving.

Cloud sighed as he followed and heard Zack talking.

"Either way, I wasn't fond of this method at all. But Angeal made me, and he sure did the hard way, climb this path. It is annoying and tiresome."

Cloud tsked again. "Then why we climbed it?" 

Zack had stopped in a place as he watched ahead of him. He had a small smile in his face feeling nostalgic.

"For this." He said and Cloud finally close to him turned and looked where Zack watched.

His eyes widened. He found himself smiling as he watched the view. Where they stopped they could see all Sectors Slums 5,6 and 7 and outside the gates that separated Midgar from the outside world. He could see people moving, walking around as small dots. Sector 6 was busy as always and Sector 7 started to have more people in its main streets.

"And I am also glad that we climbed the right time since..." Zack started and Cloud understood where he was heading.

As Zack was talking the lights of each Sector started to turn on making a peculiar but breathtaking sight. Each Sector had its own lights and it was different than the other ones. Compound it with the sun, each one had a different aura around it making it unique and to stand out from the others. 

"Walking this path was painful and I have walked it many times. When I entered SOLDIERS, I thought I was the one and only. Arrogant in one word. So as a lesson, Angeal made me climbed my way up until I reach Shinra headquarters." Zack said while enjoying the breeze.

He turned and looked at Cloud. "Each time, I climbed this path, I looked over the Slums. And every time I remembered what Angeal told me. That those people down there are exactly the same as I am. But I did something that made me different than them. I climbed my way up to SOLDIER. That doesn't mean that I am the only one. Because others would find another way up. Or others will climb it slowly. Making each of us unique. And yet those people down there are the reason we exist. _To help them._ "

Zack smiled and closed his eyes. "A weird analogy but something that was stuck to my head. And because I have entered SOLDIERS doesn't mean that others will not have the best luck as me in another way. Look what they did." Zack gestured down at the Slums. "Look how beautiful this is. I was an idiot to believe I was the only one and thanks for Angeal for making me do this....about twenty times."

"Well, perhaps you are an idiot." Cloud smiled as Zack gasped happily.

"Well, I needed persuasion. And yes I was an idiot." He laughed with Cloud.

"Why you are telling me this?" Cloud asked Zack who looked at him with surprise.

Zack shook his head. "I don't know really. I wanted to share it with someone."

Cloud smiled. "Then I am glad I was the one."

Zack smiled. "You are always my first option." After a while, he looked at the wall that separated Sector 5, 6. "You know... I have seen Wolf here."

That caught Cloud's attention and made himself looked away from the view. "Really? As I recalled you said that he saved your life."

Zack nodded. "Ah, yes. He did. Really saved me before I died...but that it is another story."

"Ok, where did you see him?"

Zack gestured at the wall. "I often found him there walking on the wall looking down. Like he wanted to be closer to the Slums. Maybe that's why Angeal made me go down to the Slums so I can be closer to them also. Made me understand and held me down on earth, unlike others SOLDIER who had been blinded by the pride. Ha, well I am glad." He scratched his head smiling and after some time he continued. "Nevermind, Wolf also went to the Slums helping people. So that's why he is more well known there. Why I don't know. But he always went there and helped each Slum. He was a well-known SOLDIER but unlike the others he was lovable."

"I wished I had met him." Cloud said and stood up ready to move.

"Well, we will meet him so...I am sure he will be luckier to meet you!"

Zack smiled and winked at Cloud who slapped him in the head.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

After they had finally made their way up to the Sector plate 6, they went on the bar that Zack had suggested and after some drinks, they decided to leave. Cloud was satisfied with this day actually, even though the harsh start but in the end he would not forgive what Zack showed him or said to him. His real thoughts on what a SOLDIER is.

They are meant to help not be the spotlight. 

Cloud smiled to himself. He was glad that Zack had followed this path and was not blinded. Or else...he shook his head as he let Zack lead the way back to the station. This time they would take the train back and since Jessie had successfully hacked their ids this time, they wouldn't have a problem. 

In the middle of their walk, Zack noticed a cargo seeling stuff so he went after it letting Cloud wait for him. Making Cloud angrier. Zack had said that he would come back shortly but he was late. So Cloud naturally followed the path Zack walked to find him. Only...to get lost. He sighed. At least here they wouldn't recognize him this time since he was wearing casual clothes that Zack insisted to take for him. He was a civilian to them so if anything happened...

He must have taken a weird turn because this time he was looking at a rough metallic hill and next to it there was a checkpoint. Cloud looked at it and seeing that there wasn't any Shinra trooper he sighed. With that, he turned and started to walk back until he heard a voice.

"Excuse me. This is a restricted area."

"Oh, umm. Sorry, I took the wrong path." Cloud said the truth hoping that the person would believe him.

He turned to face the person who talked to him. It was a first class SOLDIER but unlike every single one he met, this one had followed exactly the dressing rules. He wore the usual mask of SOLDIERS and he had a black turtleneck as well as the classic trouser. His sword shined by the light from the streetlamps. His smile was kind.

"It is ok. Many had lost the way. Where are you headed?" He asked gently startling Cloud but he answered.

"Um, yes. I was following the main road to the train."

"Ah, I see. Well, if you turn back and head straight you will find it." He smiled at him.

"Thanks." Cloud said.

"No problem. By the way, sir...I have some tickets for a play. Would you like to come with me?"

Cloud eyed him astonished at what he had just asked him and he opened his mouth. But before he could answer, he saw someone moving in front of him. _Zack_.

"I am sorry, buddy. He is taken." He barked at him putting a hand in front of Cloud.

"Oh, too bad. But I am glad for....wait! **ZACK!** Is that you?" The SOLDIER shouted at him and Zack tilted his head looking at him equally surprised as Cloud.

"I thought you were dead! After you left Nibelheim I never got any other messages!" The SOLDIER continued as he moved closer to them.

Zack shook his head and shouted. " **KUNSEL**! I don't believe it!"

Kunsel laughed. "Aw, man you remember me!"

With that Zack hugged Kunsel who also did the same making Cloud more confused. Well, by the way, Zack acted that person in front of him must be one of his friends when he was a SOLDIER.

"How can I forget an idiot that wears still his mask even in first-class!"

"Fuck you man! I do what I want with my attire and I want the mask!"

"Yeah, whatever weirdo!" Zack said and lightly tapped Kunsel's shoulder.

"Haha, whatever man. So that's mean that beautiful man behind you is Cloud, _hmmm?_ And I wonder why would you react so strongly at me flirting with your _boyf_...." Kunsel started and Zack hit him on the shoulder making Kunsel laugh.

"Ok, _geese._ You still hit hard! So I take it as a no." Kunsel said smiling at him.

" **_Shut up!_ ** Or else you will get another punch!" Zack shouted at him while he started brushing.

"Haha ok. Anyway, I am Kunsel." He gave his hand to Cloud who took it.

"Cloud."

Kunsel smiled. " **Aha** , so he is Cloud. Well, Zack and I were friends back at the headquarters when he was still active."

"Really?" Cloud asked and Kunsel nodded.

"Really. We emailed even but after the incident at the Nibelheim, I didn't get any. And I thought you were dead."

Zack looked at himself and brushed the invisible dust on him. "The last time I checked I was alive. But yes, a lot happened. One I lost my phone at a fight and after that..."

Zack explained his story to Kunsel who listened carefully.

"Oh, I see. To tell you the truth a lot happened here too. And the last thing that you said...about Sephiroth, he was here yesterday."

Zack's eyes widened. "Really...wait Kunsel! Aren't you..."

Kunsel watched him and shook his head. "After everything, I have learned that Shinra did, do you think I am loyal? _Haha,_ **fuck no!** So I don't care at all. Even if I have managed to become a first, I still feel empty with it. In the past, it would be something but now, it is nothing to be proud of."

Zack nodded smiling at Kunsel putting his arm around Kunsel's shoulder. "You haven't changed at all! Now continue! "

"Haha, either way, Sephiroth had indeed come yesterday and actually went to Hojo's lab. But he didn't do anything. He had killed some troopers and SOLDIERS but nothing else."

"Aren't you surprised at all about Sephiroth being alive?" Cloud asked Kunsel who turned his head at him.

He shook it. "No. I would be one month ago but after hearing that there were nearby sightings in one of the abandoned labs, I got suspicious. So managed to take the report and every single one wrote that the person who was there had the exact description as Sephiroth. So I was in high alert."

"Why?" Cloud asked again.

"Why I was in high alert? Well, Sephiroth was the reason that Nibelheim was burnt. So if he was sighted again he wouldn't have great intentions."

"So, that's why are you here? So when something happens you will warn the citizens to leave?" Zack questioned him and Kunsel nodded.

"Of course. Sephiroth, Shinra idiotic plans, or anything that caught my ear I would warn them. That's why I have this spot."

Cloud nodded. Zack talked.

"I knew you liked relaxation but this spot is unbearable!"

"Not when I will become a hero and save everyone!" Kunsel shoved Zack from his shoulder. Zack laughed.

"Let the jokes aside, after...they did...to you and Cloud as you have said I... have lost my faith in them. I had already but with that, I lost everything. Even the title I have is worthless to me. But when I will truly need it to save everyone here it will be worth it."

"That's why you got to first?" Zack said. 

Kunsel nodded. Zack smiled at him.

"I know that you will do the right thing."

"I will. Either way, here you go." Kunsel pulled out a key and handed it to Zack.

Zack eyed it and Kunsel spoke. "This is my key to my room. There you will find a box that says your name on it. They are you stuff in there. Take them. They will help you on your journey. Also when you are done toss the key and go the opposite side. And please write my phone so I can harass you by messaging!"

Zack nodded. "Got it. Thank you Kunsel!" He gave his hand to him and Kunsel took it as they did their handshake.

"We appreciate it." Cloud said and Kunsel smiled at him.

"No problem. I am glad to meet the person that had made Zack lose his..." Zack slapped Kunsel and Kunsel laughed.

" _This hurt_ **_stop!_ **"

" **_Stop!_ **" Zack shouted at him.

"Oh, why? Because I am splitting the truth! Nevermind that! Cloud, Zack has something we call cru..." Zack hit him again and ran towards Cloud.

"Haha. Very well. You will get the memo eventually but I wonder when you will read it! You were always oblivious to this!" Kunsel said at Cloud.

Cloud was confused but nodded back at Kunsel who grinned at Zack. Zack rolled his eyes but smiled and said goodbye. Cloud did the same. Zack took Cloud's hand and started to walk towards the direction Kunsel showed them.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"Cloud is that a new sword?" Tifa asked and Cloud looked behind his back.

They were currently close to the church of Sector 5 Slums waiting for Zack and Aerith to do what they wanted inside of it. What exactly was something that Cloud didn't know and didn't ask but Aerith wanted to talk to Zack. After Zack and Cloud had arrived in the church Aerith basically took Zack inside of it leaving Tifa and Cloud outside.

Cloud nodded at Tifa. "Yes, it is Liniar It was one of Zack's swords."

"Oh really?"

Cloud nodded again and remembered what had happened yesterday. After they left Kunsel, they went inside his room and found Zack's stuff. They sorted what they wanted with them and what Zack wanted back. He had pulled one sword and had given it to Cloud. Cloud had eyed it asking why and Zack had smiled at him. He had noticed the struggle Cloud had with Iron Blade, the sword the shopkeeper gave him since it was a heavy sword and his movements were limited with it. So he had given him a lighter one until they had found one that suited Cloud best. To which Cloud had agreed.

"Yes, but I still have my old."

Tifa's eyes widened and she asked him. "You have it...on you?"

Cloud nodded and pulled a miniature sword from his bag. Tifa looked at it and smiled.

"Oh, I see. You minimized it. I didn't know that you could do that your items."

"Yes, you can...well if you know the word to change them back."

"And you say only the word?"

"Not exactly. You must use the minimize materia again and say minimize backward."

Tifa nodded looking ahead. "Ah, that's convenient unlike when we must use an antidote to get back to normal."

"Indeed."

With that, they stopped talking. More and more time passed and the silence became more awkward.

"I am not good at this..." Cloud started looking away.

"What do you mean?" Tifa said.

"I am not good at creating conversations. At talking."

Tifa laughed. "Neither I am."

Cloud laughed. "Having someone like Zack or Aerith do the talk is nice."

"They are good at this unlike us."

"Well, you are right."

They stopped. Cloud grimaced. Maybe if he thought like Zack he would start a conversation. So he thought what Zack would say and asked.

"What did you do yesterday? I had a last drink here in Midgar with Zack."

He said emotionless but Tifa understood his meaning. So she continued.

"I found some people to take care of my bar. I had a drink with Avalanche and then Aerith invited me to a walk."

Cloud nodded. "It sounded that you had fun."

Tifa nodded back. "I did." After some time, her face grimaced and she looked at Cloud.

" _Aren't you afraid Cloud?_ " She looked down at her feet. 

Cloud looked ahead. "I am. _Really am._ The unknown we will face. The battles that we will do. But that won't stop me from protecting what is important to me." He looked at his bracelet.

"Why don't you stop us? From following you?"

Cloud looked at her. "Would have done otherwise?"

Tifa shook her head. "No. I would follow you. I have already lost enough. I don't want to lose the other things I have accomplished."

"Then, why should I? You have a goal. That I can't stop you from accomplishing. In my case though, it would be better that Zack and I did this mission, alone. _I don't want you to come..._ "

Cloud looked at her and Tifa looked away. " **...but I am glad that you did.** "

Tifa turned at him and smiled. " _Thanks_ , Cloud. I will do everything to stop this so people wouldn't experience what I did. That loss and grief. And with you by my side, this time, not hiding, is enough to make feel a little braver."

Cloud smiled back at her. He looked away as he gave his hand to Tifa who took it. This time the silence was not awkward and made both of them relax.

" **_So_ ** ... _are we ready_?" Zack said as Tifa and Cloud moved away from each other.

They both looked back at Zack and Aerith who both had suspicions smiles on their faces.

"Ah, eh...we are. Let's go find Barret." Tifa said and started to walk towards the gate.

Aerith followed her and went by her side while Zack moved Cloud with his hands.

"Here they are!" Jessie shouted as she saw who was coming.

"Took you long enough. I thought you turned around." Barret said at Cloud who sighed.

"And lose to you. **_Never._ **"

"Nevermind, I am sorry. I was the one that had some errands that I needed to do." Aerith said trying to stop the fighting before it started.

Barret nodded at her. "Oh, that's ok then. Also thank you for convincing your mother..."

Aerith smiled. "It was nothing. Either way, she will be happy to have a child running around there since her troublemaker would be elsewhere."

Cloud looked at her. "Is your mother ok with this?"

Aerith shook her head. "Not at all. But she knows that she can't stop me from doing this. She knows what role I play and I need to fulfill. _She was ready._ " Aerith looked at the gate in front of them. "The question is... **_am I?_ **"

"Neither I am." Tifa held her hand smiling at her. "But knowing that you all will be with me and especially you Aerith gives me the courage to move forward."

Aerith watched her. Finally, she smiled at her.

"With you by my side, I am ready for everything." 

Tifa smiled back at her. Aerith sighed again sadder than before.

"I will miss it. _The steel sky._ " She said as she watched the steel sky.

Tifa continued. "I will too. So when you finally see the starry night, I will be by your side watching it with you. Making it unforgettable."

Aerith weakly smiled as she put her hand on her chest.

"I would like that. Remembering the starry sky as something...unique and happy."

Tifa nodded and Zack squeezed her shoulders encouraging her.

"So, this is goodbye." Biggs said at them.

"It is but not a farewell." Zack said as he handed him something.

"What is this?" Barret asked as he was given the same thing.

"Open it and see it." Zack said as he was giving the rest stuff to the others. 

"A phone!" Jessie gasped.

"Yes, a phone. Every single one has one now so we can chat and communicate whenever we want. That is something I got from my stuff yesterday. As well as a map for the outside world." He gave that to Cloud who gladly took it.

"Why PHS is not good enough?" Wedge asked curiously.

Zack shook his head. "No it is still good but unlike PHS we can take pictures and video talk. And Tifa here..." He handed a PHS to her. "I took this from the cargo I saw yesterday. Since I had broken your last one."

Tifa smiled. "Thank you Zack."

"Also, Biggs..." Zack started as he walked closer to him. "There is a SOLDIER called Kunsel in Sector 7. He is a friend of mine and he is willing to help you and provide you information for whatever he can. Give him a call with your phone and you can continue after that."

Biggs nodded and gave him a thumbs up. "Got it."

"So this is it." Wedge after some time of silence spoke.

"This is it." Tifa said and eyed the gate.

"Whatever happens you will call me ok. And take a look at Marlene. Be careful and whatever happens, value your life above everything, understood?" Barret started feeling emotional as he wiped some tears from his eyes while his tone was harsh.

Jessie, Wedge and Biggs hugged him.

"We will boss." They said as they let go of Barret who nodded and started heading to the gate.

The rest of the team followed him and waved at the rest of Avalanche saying their goodbyes. In front of the gate, Cloud took the key and opened it. When it was opened they watched the outside world.

" **So...we begin**." Cloud said as finally, they stepped outside.

Zack looked at Midgar. 

After they had walked for at least a day, they had decided to set a camp and sleep for the night. Their next destination was Kalm which was close by. Cloud had second thoughts as the place they had set camp was close to something that had happened here. But the team was tired and it was better here since later they would enter the monster territory.

Near the camp, there was a hill. A specific hill that mattered both to Cloud and Zack. That hill was were Zack had fallen in battle and Cloud was there as he slowly remembered him dying. It was painful to watch it, remember it so Cloud ignored it at all costs. Yet Zack was drone to it and at the night when most of the team had fallen asleep, he had walked slowly at it. After some thought, he stepped on it and stood at the same spot he had fallen. _Watching Midgar._

Cloud had noticed or felt Zack moving so he made himself wake up and walked towards Zack. He watched as Zack continued looking at Midgar. Cloud didn't know what exactly to do when Zack talked.

"And to think that I would find myself leave Midgar after everything we had been through. And probably head back where we started. **_This_ ** would be laughable to me."

"Zack." Cloud said his name gently, doing small steps.

"I am ok. Well, as my memory wants me to. This place...is painful to be near. _So many memories._ " He continued.

"I know." Cloud nodded as his mind surfaced some memories in this place. He shook his head. 

"Watching you over me was the worst part...seeing you finally talking, responding to me. To me it was the worst time to wake up since...you would see me die. _Wake up in a tragedy._ "

"Don't remember." Cloud said as he slowly walked to Zack.

Zack looked at him and Cloud saw his eyes tearing up.

" _I can't._ **That's all I do.** " Zack whispered at him.

Cloud came closer and wiped Zack's tears. Zack didn't move letting Cloud do what he happened as he watched every move he did. Or better the bracelet. Cloud cracked a smiled at him as he held Zack's hand.

"Then...we will remake this memory or better...make new memories. New memories to remember. _New memories that we will make together._ "

Cloud tightened his hold. Zack examined him for a while and touched his forehead with Cloud's. As he opened his eyes, a new light was on them.

" **_New memories._ **"

Cloud nodded. "New memories to remember _here._ "

Zack smiled at him. "I would...like that." He said and turned his gaze at Midgar again. Cloud followed suit not breaking their hold.

"This time you will be by my side watching Midgar. _Smiling with me._ " Zack looked at Cloud. " **Be with me.** _Here_ at this moment."

Cloud nodded. " **Together.** "

Zack smiled again and nodded. "Together with you... I like this memory."

Cloud smiled. "I like it too."

He said as both of them watched over Midgar enjoying the moment. Together. Cloud smiled at the moment even if he felt the bracelet heavier than before.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

"Here we are!" Zack shouted as he jumped with enthusiasm.

"Finally!" Barret continued as he followed Zack inside Kalm.

Tifa and Aerith followed suit as Cloud was looking around. The Shinra troopers here were minimum making Cloud relax. Even if they were not causing any incidents they still needed to have a low profile. He followed his team inside.

Kalm city was as its name said a calm city. It had few houses as well as shops that were on a level above the houses. In the middle there was a small tower, a monument Cloud believed it was and under the shops, there was an entrance that judging by the sign it was for a bar. He watched as everyone started walking around investigating the city. 

"Regroup." Cloud said to them as everyone nodded looking at him.

"So, what are doing Cloud?" Zack as everyone followed Cloud to the monument.

"I know you want to investigate the town so we will settle at the inn. After we are done, we will individually start to ask for information about the red lion. Since everyone has a phone, we will regroup here in the monument after twenty minutes and see how we went. You will see the city but also collect information. Anything is enough but we are mainly focusing on the red lion."

"Isn't dangerous if we split?" Tifa asked and Cloud shook his head.

"I check for Shinra troopers. They are mainly in the gate of Kalm. So if no one leaves the city then there is no worry. If anything happens use your phone. Either way, we are in a calm city so if 

anything happens we will hear it."

Tifa nodded and everyone started walking to the Inn. After they had settled down, they split and started to collect information.

Cloud until now had no luck what so ever. Many ignored him and told him other things, others laughed asking him how they could see a red lion when they don't exist. Cloud sighed as his information was worthless.

"And...now son, the green materia is by far the best here. Don't get cocky." The old man said to him as he smiled.

Cloud nodded his head politely. "Won't. Thanks." He said as he walked away.

" _For nothing..._ " Cloud said and sighed again.

It is not possible that not at least one hadn't seen a _red_ lion. It was red on a green hill. And the lion couldn't go elsewhere. It must have come this way. There were no other paths that it could have taken. And yet no one had seen it. Only one thing was worthy since he learned there was a mine closeby and a choboco farm. And yet those were on his map so...he had got nothing.

After some minutes, he stopped his search since he knew that the other paths of the city were taken for the others. So he moved to an alley and watched as people walked in front of him.

" _Tough search?_ " Someone said.

That voice was not new to Cloud who looked behind him and nodded his head giving a hello to the red hooded man.

"I didn't know you can follow me outside Midgar."

The red hooded man sat at the barrel next to Cloud. "With your documents now I can! I have a main role now! _I am so happy._ "

"Whatever." Cloud said as he continued watching the crowd moved in front of him.

"Angry I see. Being a jerk was your trademark when you were feeling down or felt wronged."

" _Good to know._ Not new to my ears."

"Well, being a jerk won't help your course."

"And what you want me to do. Smile. I have no information. Only the others are my hope but I don't think they had much luck themselves."

"Ah, I must agree on that, unfortunately. There are truly not many things here. Kalm is a quiet town and its people are easygoing. You will not find good information here."

Cloud sighed and looked at the sky. "So we wasted our time here doing nothing."

The man watched him as he started to moved his feet. "You think so?". 

"What you mean you think so? You said it. There are not many people here."

"Yes... I did but..." The man gestured Cloud.

Cloud at first thought that the man gestured him to continue but he gestured at him. That made Cloud understand. "Travelers?"

The man smirked and nodded. "Or perhaps closeby people. Those give better information since they are not bounded in the town but outside its limits. So they can see everything."

Cloud thought about and indeed he had met some but still not much luck on finding what he needed. The red hooded man gave a flip on Cloud's head making him back away and brushed his forehead.

"What's that for?" He asked as the man stood up and looked at him.

"Well for being a jerk obviously. And also because you are not thinking right. _Try another thinking!_ Oh, also that's your queue."

He said as Cloud's phone alarm went off. Cloud took it out and closed it. That was actually the alarm that told him to go back to the monument. While he put it back on his pocket he turned to ask the red hooded man what he meant only for him to have disappeared.

"I got nothing most of them laughed at me." 

"I got that there is a mine close by."

"I got that also."

Tifa, Aerith and Barret talked while Zack shook his head showing his disappointment. They had found nothing at all.

"What about you Cloud?" He asked Cloud.

Cloud was next to him deep in thoughts. He was looking ahead not focusing on their conversation. Yet seeing him disappointed also showed Zack that he hadn't found anything either. Cloud had heard him this time but yet again didn't answer making Zack angrier.

" _Dude,_ stop that." Zack breathed annoyed.

But before anyone said anything, Cloud moved away from where he was sitting next to Zack and snapped his fingers.

" **Yes.** " He said as everyone watched him.

"What yes SOLDIER boy. We got nothing." Barret said as Cloud started walking towards him.

"Don't care. Give me Wedge's phone number." Cloud said making Barret annoyed.

"You are lucky we are here or else I would whoop your ass." He barked at him while giving him the number.

"Sure you would." Cloud continued and thanked Barret while he held his phone on his ear.

"Hello?" Wedge's voice echoed on the phone.

"Wedge, Cloud."

"Cloud! Man you scared me for a second. I thought you were someone else..."

"Yeah Yeah, got it. I have actually something to ask you."

"Oh really man! I can help whatever you want!" Wedge's voice became more excited.

Cloud hesitated for a second but he shook his head. "Can you tell me again how you called the red lion?"

"Why? So you can laugh?" This time it became sadder.

"No. Did I laugh when you told me about the strings?"

"Well, no. You were actually participating in that conversation. You really wanted to hear it."

"It is true. So, why would I laugh at something that makes me intrigued?"

"Well, you have a point! You really want to hear." 

Wedge's voice had excitement written all over it and Cloud nodded. When he understood that Wedge couldn't see it, he said yes. So Wedge started.

"So well! The red lion we saw the other time had a close resemblance to a chimera. Chimera was another mythical creature that had three heads. The heads were a lion, a snake and a coat. It could breathe fire and make everyone stone if it wanted to. Its body was lion type and its tail had fire coming from it. The red lion we saw had a lion's head and fire coming from its tail. It also breathed fire when it attacked the monsters there."

"Chimera... all right thank you, Wedge. With that, I am sure this time we will find what we need." Cloud said.

"No problem. Whatever you need with myths _I am your man._ "

With that Cloud stopped the call and looked at his team. He smirked at them like he had found an answer to their problem.

"I didn't get what you did." Zack said and Cloud closed his eyes.

"Well, it is clear that we did something wrong here. Some of them laughed at us and others ignored us completely. That's the problem. We asked them like they were people in Midgar."

Zack nodded his head finally getting it. "We were thinking like SOLDIERS."

Cloud smirked again and nodded. "Exactly! The problem was us. We weren't thinking like them but as city's people. We needed to think like them. Country style."

" **_Like the backwaters experts, we were!_ **" Zack shouted.

Cloud laughed at that and did their weird handshake. Aerith asked them.

"So you think that asking them if they saw...chimera would help at all."

"Oh, positive. They would at least understand what we are looking for. So now, who here had the best luck in trying to ask someone."

"Oh me." Zack said.

"Then leads us to them." Cloud said and everyone followed.

They went inside the bar and Zack showed a man that his head was on the counter.

"That man over there. When I asked him if he saw a red lion, he told me that he hadn't seen anything like that sort. So he must have seen something else at least."

"He looks so done." Aerith whispered at them.

"Well, his voice was close to tearing but after some time of talking he was opening to me."

"What exactly did you ask hedgehog?" Barret asked Zack who thought about it. 

"I asked about the drink and then the red lion. After that, the conversation went on but then my alarm went off so I stopped it. He started talking about races and specifically choboco races."

"Ah, that's why he is like that. _He broke as hell._ " Barret grinned but Tifa shook her head.

"That drink is a Rufualner, Rufus Shinra's drink. The most expensive drink that not many can afford. So, he must be rich to can afford at least four as I can see."

" _Oh shit._ " Barret breathed out surprised and everyone nodded.

Cloud cleaned his throat making them stop continuing their pointless conversation as their answers would be answered when Cloud talked to him. So he walked towards him and cleared his throat again. The man lifted his head and looked at him. Well, at least he wasn't drunk since his eyes focused on him. 

"Well, by Shiva's titties are ya back ma boy?" The man spoke as his head turned to Zack.

"Your story was so good that I needed to come back. So I brought my friends with me."

"Ah, very kind of ya. Would your friends want a drink? I will buy them some." His tone was friendly and smiled at them.

"I think we will pass." Cloud said and the man shook his head.

"Not time for drinks is a wasted time ma boy. But ya life ya rules. So what exactly made ya come back to old me?"

"Well, my friend asked something..."

"Ah yes...the red lion. No can do. I haven't seen any of that."

Cloud nodded. "That's true because he said a summon not what we are looking for."

"Ah, he was confused. So what were you after?"

"Did you see a chimera with only one head?"

The man's eyes widened in surprise and stood up facing Cloud.

"If I saw it! **I saw it alright!** That chimera was close to making me lose my business!"

Hearing everyone gasped behind was the exact reaction Cloud would have if he wasn't focused on the task. But before he could ask anything the man continued.

"That chimera walked by ma farm and probably killed something since those kinds of chimeras with one head are good kind but it scared ma chobocos!"

"Chobocos?" Cloud asked while Zack shouted from behind.

"That's what you meant that you have problem in the races!"

The man nodded. "Yeah, ma boy. He scared some of them but they are good as new but that damn creature made one of ma champions, ma unique choboco jumped from its fence and leave!"

"So you know what that chimera went?" Cloud asked and the man nodded.

"Of course I do...ah, you seek the chimera. Then would ya mind to do ma work for that information ma boy?" The man's eyes became sinister.

"So if I refuse you will not give me where it went."

The man nodded. " **Ding.** Ya, ma boy. If ya find my choboco I will tell ya where that damn creature went."

Cloud sighed at this. And outside of Midgar, he became once again a merc. He nodded at the man who grinned finally seeing a light to his problem.

"I will find your damn choboco." Cloud said as he crossed his arms in front of his chest.

" **Yee haw.** Thanks ma boy!"

"Whatever. Tells us what you want." 

"Well look the negative Odin over here. So, this choboco was last seen close to the mines. Before you say anything about that I can go and collect it, the problem is that that mimes are left for good so monsters must have made them their lair. I am old to fight them and also...they are two mines that the choboco could have entered. One on the north, the other to the east. So with ya numbers, you're ok to search it."

"And you want just a choboco. I could bring you anything back." Barret said and the man laughed.

"That's true. But ma choboco is the only one in it's kind."

"Yeah, a gold one. Yeah, whatever old man we can find another one or breed one." Barret continued and Tifa hit him making stop.

"Haha well, you are unlucky then because that choboco is pink."

"Pink?" Zack asked and the man nodded.

"Impossible. They are not pink chobocos." Aerith said but the man laughed.

"And that's the reason I need it back. Here a feather from it." He pulled out a pink feather and Cloud examined while the others examined it from behind him.

The man continued. "It is unique. Just having it in the races but not racing with it gives me so much money. Because it is the only one in the world. So, go and bring ma choboco for the chimera's location." He said and gave his hand to Cloud.

Cloud looked at his friends and when he got four nods, he gave his hand to the man.

"As you saw and heard we don't have any other way of obtaining our information until we find this choboco. Since they're two mimes we will have two teams to search it."

Cloud said over to his team when they had finally arrived in the monument. He looked at his team and continued.

"So, the teams will be..." 

" **OH** , can I be with Tifa?" Aerith said as she put her arms around Tifa's arm.

She winked at Cloud who rolled his eyes understanding what Aerith wanted to do. She wanted alone time with Tifa. Which was going against what he wanted the teams to be. He would get Barret to Tifa's team and Zack and he would go in the other. Before he said anything, Barret had nodded and gone towards Cloud side indicating that he had understood the meaning. Cloud rolled his eyes again not pleased but he shrugged his shoulders.

" _Whatever._ Tifa and Aerith will go to east mime and Barret, Zack and I to the north. Remember we are searching for a pink choboco not looking for a fight. So don't overdo it."

"Says the one that got into trouble the other time." Aerith showed her tongue to Cloud who sighed.

" _Shut up._ Nevertheless, be careful." Cloud said at the girls who nodded and left.

Aerith had still her arms around Tifa who was blushing at the touch but didn't do any moves to undo it. Cloud smiled despite his best efforts not to at the scene in front of him and Zack hit him lightly at the back.

"Yeah, wingman, let's move and later you will see the development." He smiled and Cloud sighed.

"Tifa needs some time to see it." Barret said as he moved ahead.

"Needs some time, indeed." Cloud agreed as they made their way to the mime.

**_ -ooo-  _ **

The mimes where cold as the went farther and father inside but not cold enough for you to feel sick. Something that Cloud liked it as it was the ideal temperature to move around. The mime was straightforward. Go ahead and ahead no rooms to choose. He started to get skeptical as they hadn't found any pink feathers or feathers general. And to top it all that, they had Barret whining behind them. He had started to get annoyed at it.

At the whining, not the lines he heard against him. He would answer with a swing or two if it wasn't for Zack who was in the middle trying to calm the spirits. What made Cloud even angrier was the fact that Barret and Zack joked with each other while Barret was getting on his nerves.

"And tell me, EX-SOLDIER boy, why don't you light up a little. It will help us in our journey." Barret said as Cloud hasn't said anything when they have entered the mime. 

"Come in front of me and I light your world so hard even making you see stars." Cloud finally answered and Barret laughed.

"With your sad-looking ass bitch of excuse muscles?"

"Ah, _hallucinations._ " Cloud looked back at Barret who rolled his eyes ar him.

"Hallucinations is your best comeback? _No thank you._ I will find another one to annoy."

"That was the whole point." Cloud sighed at him and Barret laughed.

"Look at that EX-SOLDIER. You use your brain. That is a first."

" _A concept unknown to you?_ " He asked and smiled at his comeback as no one could see it as he was leading the group forward.

" **_Nice._ ** Let me help you let it work more with a whooping you will never forget." Barret barked at him clearly somewhat annoyed. 

"Guys, can't we stop?" Zack finally intervened as both Barret and Cloud turn to him and yell.

" **No!** "

"That cringe sad-looking choboco started it."

"Talks the eco sad-looking terrorist that is bad at his work."

"Oh, bitch, you wanna go?" Barret said and started moving at Cloud who had his hand on his sword.

"Ready, as ever for an idiot like you!" Cloud barked at him and Barret smiled at it.

"Guys, even though this development is so romantic for you bros, this is something you need to see."

Zack pointed at something in front of them. Barret and Cloud stopped as they moved with Zack. Finally, after that long corridor, they found themselves in a circular area. There was after this another straight corridor but it was blocked with rocks. Barret sighed.

"So all this walk for nothing?" 

Cloud had gone and touched the rocks. "It seems like it. They can be moved but I don't think the choboco could have moved them easily. Otherwise, this would be open."

"Well, that concludes our search. I hope the girls found the choboco." Zack nodded smiling.

"I hope so too hedgehog." Barret said and Zack smiled. " _But..._ " Baret continued startling them. 

"...Something is wrong?" Barret continued as Cloud noticed a gap on one side of the fallen rocks as Barret pointed.

Zack noticed it too. "You think that someone squeezed over it?" 

Barret shook his head. "No, but maybe you are right. Look closely at them."

Cloud noticed them too. At some rocks, he could see a straight line at their end. Like someone had cut them. He understood what Barret meant.

"Someone closed the entrance by cutting the rocks." He noticed as he felt himself instantly go to alert mode.

Barret held his gun. "Yep. And they must be fresh."

"Who could do that? They try to help the choboco?" Zack asked as he looked at them.

"Who indeed. Be on guard." Cloud nodded as Barret laughed.

"What is that funny?" Zack asked as Barret continued.

"Don't you think is the _fallen hero?_ "

Zack's eyes widened. "You mean..." He started as he felt something hitting from behind and he fell straight forward at Barret.

Cloud went by his side as he took out his sword ready to fight when he saw someone in front of him. He gritted his teeth as he had felt them moving just now. At that exact moment, something attacked and Cloud blocked the attack making the enemy moved back.

Cloud showed his teeth and immediately his eyes widened. In front of him was none other...

" **_Sephiroth?_ **" Zack whispered as he had stood up and looked at him shocked.

"He... he is truly alive?" Barret shouted in astonishment as Sephiroth moved his sword in front of him ready to attack.

But Barret beat him as he moved his gun and immediately fired where Sephiroth was standing before. As the smoke disappeared, they could see that a hole had formed in the center of the circular area by Barret's gun. But nowhere was Sephiroth.

Yet Cloud remained in guard as he continued feeling his presence. When he saw a black feather in front of him touching the ground, he backtracked and looked up. Sephiroth had flew away from the blast and looked at them clearly bored. When his eyes stopped at Cloud, they became disappointed. At that moment, Zack moved and slashed the air. Sephiroth dodged the attack and touched the ground.

Sephiroth continued to dodge the attacks while Zack talked to him.

"Sephiroth you motherfucker. That's the way to greet a lost friend?" Zack said sarcastically but his voice held some emotion in it.

Sephiroth didn't answer as he dodged the attack again and slashed the air as another bomb was coming to him, cutting it in half. He rolled his eyes.

"Beyond boring." He said as this time done another attack by Cloud.

He smiled at Cloud as he moved him back at the wall. Cloud stood up and went away as Sephiroth moved at him with full speed. 

"Stop this. That is not you Sephiroth." Zack tried to talk sense to Sephiroth but he shook his head.

"Such useless words from a worm, like you." He said as he put his sword in front of him parrying the attack from Zack.

"This is how you respond? You are not yourself. _Wake up._ Just listen. Why go that way? You were so nice and understanding and now..." But anything that Zack said was doing nothing to Sephiroth who just attacked back and looked disappointed.

"He is beyond saving." Cloud said at Zack who had jumped near him.

Zack's eyes looked sad but he nodded. "He doesn't hear anymore. So this time let the swords do the talking!" He screamed as he attacked Sephiroth.

Sephiroth's eyes turned cold and annoyed. "This is boring."

He hit Zack and dodged the slash Cloud did on him. He then parried the bomb that Barret threw him and as he slashed the air a blue line formed and moved at Barret. Barret was thrown back at the wall and his gun emitted smokes showing that Sephiroth had destroyed it. Barret cursed and tried to pull it out.

Zack moved again to attack but Sephiroth caught his sword with ease and threw him away. 

" _Fuck off!_ " Sephiroth said annoyed as Zack hit the wall hard next to Barret. But he was ready to move again expect that..something stopped him at his tracks. Like something binding him.

Cloud gritted his teeth at Sephiroth who smiled at him and opened his arms welcoming him. Cloud moved to attack. Sephiroth dodged or parried the attacks easily. That made his eyes become colder and annoyed to the point that a frown had formed at his face. He moved Cloud back.

" **_Enough!_ **" He shouted 

He flew up and went so fast down at Cloud. He hit Cloud's sword away from his hands and Cloud was caught off guard as he felt a hand on his throat. He moved his hands at it shocked and he felt himself getting lifted up. He gasped as the hand tighten its hold but gave a glare at Sephiroth who still was annoyed at the display in front of him.

" **Useless.** " He shouted and threw Cloud down.

Cloud touched the ground and as he was ready to stood up, he felt himself again getting moved. But this time by a strong force in his wrists. That made him lose balance and felt himself hitting hard a wall with his back. He opened his eyes and looked ahead at Sephiroth who was looking at him displeased. Then he noticed the area around him.

Cloud was in another area. Then he understood. He looked up and barely managed to see the hole that Barret's gun had created closing. Leaving him alone with Sephiroth. Sephiroth walked closer to him while Cloud was trying to move his hands away from the wall but with no luck. Sephiroth had stopped and looked at him getting more annoyed. Cloud gritted his teeth as he looked at his bound wrists.

They were covered by a purple aura and the aura was running all around the wall behind him. Cloud's eyes widened.

"Binding materia." Sephiroth said at what Cloud had understood.

Cloud showed his teeth at Sephiroth. His hand moved at Cloud's mouth and opened it letting his fingers enter it. Cloud tried to bite it but he felt another headache and he closed his eyes. 

"All bark no bite. So disappointing. And to think that you would have escaped this in mere second in the past." Sephiroth said as he snapped his fingers and the headache disappeared.

His face went closer to Cloud's ear and his breath touched Cloud's cheek making a chill run down Cloud's spine. " I want more puppet. Let me see what I need to see."

He took his hand away from Cloud's face and focused on his eyes. Cloud tried to look away only for that damn hand to move his head making him stare at Sephiroth. After some time of examining him, seeing no reactions, Sephiroth threw Cloud's head at the wall. Cloud felt somewhat dizzy but recovered quickly as he felt Sephiroth's hand moving.

He tried to move but the binding materia had also caught his legs making him unable to move at all. Sephiroth's hand moved around Cloud's body. It stopped slightly at Cloud's chest and then stopped at the bracelet. He tapped it lightly and moved his hand away from it. He looked at Cloud again.

"This is disappointing. Nothing had changed. I am starting to regret my decision leaving you alive." Sephiroth said.

Cloud didn't say anything but continued to glare at Sephiroth. Sephiroth smiled at him.

"Perhaps my puppet you are forgetting your role. Yet that materia was used so I can't say for sure why is your decision to go against my words. But I know..." He said as he touched Cloud's face again. "...that deep down you know what will happen. That we will be reunited again. Oh, _yes_ , **the reunion.** "

Sephiroth moved away from Cloud and his expression changed again as he noticed something. His eyes became harsh but his smile stayed at his face.

"Yet...you are getting away from me. _Every second._ You are becoming someone else." 

With that Masamune appeared in his hands and he touched Cloud's chest with it. Slowly and almost painfully he moved it down. He cut Cloud's turtleneck in half revealing the previous cut he had made on him. Sephiroth admired it for a second and then he moved his sword away. He looked straight at Cloud's eyes like he wanted to hypnotize him.

" **You are drifting away for the path I have set for you...** "

He smirked at Cloud and moved his sword up targeting Cloud's previous cut.

" **...shall I remind it to you?** "

And with that, the sword struck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As you notice Cloud changed his sword. He will change them until the right one appears.  
> The sword he has now is the one that Zack uses as a second class SOLDIER.
> 
> I know that pink chobocos exist but I will follow the ideology of FF7 with them. So pink only appear on races hence the races the farmer said.
> 
> And oh no. I hope Cloud is ok!!!! Hope you liked it! Have a good day!!!


End file.
